PR 
 
 6^" 
 
 s^ JOHu m.VA 
 tej OUN 2 
 W LIBRARY 5y 
 
3 1924 074 296 207 
 
In comcjliance with current 
 copyright law, Cornell University 
 Library produced this 
 replacement volume on paper 
 that meets the ANSI Standard 
 Z39. ^8-198^ to replace the 
 irreparably deteriorated original. 
 
 1992 
 
EB Cornell University 
 VB Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924074296207 
 
THE 
 
 
 < -. 
 
 . -"-fell 
 
 H 
 
 FOOTSTEPS OF SHAKSPERE; 
 
 RAMBLE WITH THE EARLY DRAMATISTS, 
 
 COXTAIKIKGr 
 
 MUCH NEW AND INTERESTING INFOBMATION 
 
 KESPECTIKG 
 
 SHAKSPERE, LYLY, MARLOWE. GREENE, 
 
 4 J 1^ , AND OTHERS. 
 
 ' 1 r ) , 
 
 . - 1 / / ^/ J ^w --^ ^' 
 
 LONDON: 
 JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 
 hi . 36, SO HO SQUARE. 
 
 Ik 
 
 ir.DCCC.LXII. 
 
"^Vhat a piece of woA is man! how noble in reason! how infinite 
 in £>iculty ! in form and moving, how express and admirable ! in action, 
 how like an angel ! in apprehension, how like a god ! the beauty of the 
 world ! the paragon of animals ! " 
 
 Shalcspere, wnconsciomly describing himself. 
 
 
 CiV. -,..-■ ■'"'C'-'^ T<,;gCs- 
 
 " In Hamlet he seems to have wished to exemplify the moral neces- 
 sity of a due balance between our attention to the objects of our senses, 
 and our meditation on the workings of our minds, an equilibrium be- 
 tween the real and the imaginary worlds. In Hamlet this balance is 
 disturbed ; his thoughts and the images of his fancy are far more vivid 
 than his actual perceptions, and his very perceptions, instantly passing 
 through the medium of his contemplations, acquire, as they pass, a form 
 and a colour, not naturally their own. Hence we see a great, an almost 
 enormous intellectual activity, and a proportional aversion to real 
 action, consequent upon it, with all its symptoms and accompanying 
 qualities. This character Shakspere places in circumstances undir 
 which it is obliged to act on the spur of the moment :■ — Hamlet s 
 brave and careless of death ; but he vacillates from sensibUity, and pr<i- 
 crastinates from thought, and loses the power of action in the energy 
 •of resolve." 
 
 ■Goleridge, nneonsciously describing himself. 
 
TO 
 
 THE GHOST OF APOLLO, 
 
 WHOSE SONS, POETICAL OR MEDICAL, 
 
 AKE MOST CANTANKEEOtrs FELLOWS, 
 
 A MOST SWEET DISCORD. 
 
 Not being acquainted with any parties critically 
 conversMit with Elizabethan literature, I am urged by a 
 sense ef duty, like Nelson, or rather with the devotion 
 of a Curtius, to publish these discoveries, be they true 
 or imaginary; I have no theories to defend, and can 
 readily subscribe to the words of the Reverend Mr. 
 Halpin : — 
 
 " If I have anywhere used the unbecoming language 
 of absolute certainty, or assumed the unauthorized tone 
 of dictation to others, — I would plead, in bar of judg-. 
 ment, the difficulty of conveying the result of one's own 
 conviction, [and without conviction, such an essay were 
 an impertinence not to be excused] without either 
 appearing over-confident, or employing such a multi- 
 plicity of words and forms of deprecation as would 
 eventually amount to a worse abuse of the Liberty of 
 the Press. That I think I have arrived at a true 
 solution, my appearance in print is sufficient evidence." 
 — Oberon's Vision; Shakspere Society. 
 
IV 
 
 I would also gladly join the reverend gentleman in 
 
 the following request, " I shall be deeply obliged to any 
 
 one who will kindly set me right ; " but, oh ! what a 
 
 fond idea, how precious green ! — nothing can slake the 
 
 rabid thirst for revenge, nothing can mollify the 
 
 wounded prejudices of a Shaksperian critic ; — oh, my 
 
 prophetic soul ! I see m^yself rushing, like Cassandra, 
 
 into the house of destruction, into a den of murderers, 
 
 like France's England, a hotbed of assassins ; — 
 
 Woe's me, woe's me ; Apollo, oh, Apollo ! 
 
 Save me from their knives and tomahawks ; 
 
 Save me from these critical savages. 
 
 Oh, Apollo ! 
 
 God " of physicke and of poesie," 
 
 Give me — thy blessing. 
 
 that hath saved thy life, says Marlowe ;* and so say aU 
 
 my critics, kindness and forgiveness beaming in their 
 
 celestial visages ; or as a pilgrim at a higher shrine than 
 
 Apollo's hath sung : — 
 
 " But mercy is above this scepter'd sway. 
 It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 
 It is an attribute to God himself; 
 And critic's power doth then show Ukest God's, 
 When mercy seasons justice." 
 
 * Tide Annotation, page 27. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Was Shakspere a. Lawyer's Clerk ? 1 
 
 Shakspere's Latin 9 
 
 What was Shakspeke's OccnPATioN before going 
 
 TO London? 13 
 
 Annotations 14 
 
 Hamlet 34 
 
 Shakspere's Greek 77 
 
 Hamlet, Biron, &c 87 
 
 Ltly's Endymion 91 
 
 All's Well that Ends Well .... ... 99 
 
 Lyly's Sapho and Phao, Campaspe, Gallathea . 101 
 
 Love's Labour's Lost 103 
 
 Lyly's Midas ... 105 
 
 Pericles 115 
 
 Spenser, Henry VI., Komeo and Juliet . . . .118 
 
 Merry Wives op Windsor 124 
 
 Thomas Nash 133 
 
 Christopher Marlowe 138 
 
 Robert Greene 146 
 
 The Sonnets . . 154 
 
 Midsummer Night's Dream 159 
 
 Edward III 175 
 
 Merchant of Venice, T.aming of the Shrew, Taming 
 
 of a Shrew, King John, Heney V. ... 179 
 
THE 
 
 FOOTSTEPS OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 On reading in January, 1859, a paragraph in a news- 
 paper, that Lord Campbell was about publishing some 
 remarks on Shakspere's Legal Acquirements, it struck 
 me, as an interesting occupation for a leisure hour, to 
 examine into the subject beforehand, and see how far 
 my own opinions might coincide with those of the 
 learned Judge. As it is believed by some, though dis- 
 puted by others, that Shakspere, before going to 
 Iflondon, was for several years a lawyer's clerk at Strat- 
 ford, it may be presumed, if such were the case, his 
 legal phraseology and imagery would be most abundant 
 in his earlier plays ; and I cannot give the result of my 
 investigation more concisely and distinctly, than by 
 commenting on a few extracts from his Lordship's 
 book : — 
 
 " The great diflSculty is to discover, or to conjecture, 
 with reasonable probability, how Shakspere was em- 
 ployed from about 1579, when he most likely left school, 
 till about 1586, when he is supposed to have gone to 
 London/' 
 
 " Of Shakspere's actual occupations during these im- 
 
 B 
 
2 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 portant years^ when his character was formed, there is 
 not a scintilla of contemporary proof." 
 
 " An attorney's clerk,"—" first suggested by Chalmers 
 and since countenanced by Malone, yourself, &c.," "but 
 impugned by nearly an equal number of biographers 
 and critics of almost equal authority.'' 
 
 " We should only have to recollect the maxim, that 
 the vessel long retains the flavour with which it has been 
 once imbued." 
 
 "In Two Gentlemen of Verona, Pericles of Tyre, 
 and Titus Andronicus, &c. in fourteen of the thirty-seven 
 dramas generally attributed to Shakspere, — I find nothing 
 that fairly bears upon this controversy." 
 
 It may here be remarked, that no "flavour " in the 
 first three plays ought to be considered, according to 
 Lord Campbell's own showing, strong presumptive evi- 
 dence, Shakspere could not have been a lawyer's clerk 
 at Stratford. 
 
 But let us see what law phrases and allusions are to 
 be fo^^nd in these plays : — 
 
 Thaliard. " For if a king bid a man be a villain, he is 
 bound by the indenture of Ms oath to be one." — 
 
 Pericles, act i., scene 3. 
 
 2nd. Msli. "Help, master, help; here's a fish hangs in 
 the net, like a poor man's right in the law ; 'twill hardly come 
 out." — Pericles, act ii., scene 1. 
 
 Prot. " That they are out by lease." — 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, act v., scene 2. 
 
 Tit. " I did my lord, yet let me be their bail to answer 
 their suspicion." — Titus Andronicus, act ii., scene 4. 
 
 If there be any more law-phrases in these three plays, 
 they are so few and trivial as to have escaped observation. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. O 
 
 We will now proceed to another extract from his 
 Lordship's book : — 
 
 " Samlet. In this tragedy various expressions and allusions 
 crop out, showing the substratum of law in the author's mind," 
 " Nor will it yield to Norway or the Pole 
 A ranker rate, should it he sold in fee." 
 and, 
 
 " Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task 
 Does not divide the Sunday from the week." 
 
 " this passage has been quoted by Judges on the bench 
 as an authority upon the press-gang, and upon the de- 
 bated question whether shipwrights as well as common 
 sea-men are liable to be pressed into the service of the 
 royal navy.'' 
 
 " The discussion as to whether Ophelia was entitled 
 to Christian burial, proves that Shakspere had read and 
 studied Plowden's Report of the celebrated case of Hales 
 V. Petit, tried in the reign of Philip and Mary, and that 
 he intended to ridicule the counsel who argued, and the 
 Judges who decided it. Upon an inquisition before the 
 Coroner, a verdict of felo de se was returned. Under 
 this finding, his body was to be buried in a cross-road, 
 wdth a stake thrust through it, and all his goods were 
 forfeited to the crown." 
 
 " Hamlet's own speech, &c,, abounds with lavryer-like 
 thoughts and words." 
 
 The having " studied Plowden's Report and the ridi- 
 culing of the counsel and of the Judges " no moi'e proves 
 Shakspere to have been a lawyer's clerk, than that a 
 novelist, who ridicules the contradictory evidence of 
 medical men in a case of poisoning, must necessarily 
 have been an apothecary's apprentice. I shall here 
 
4 
 
 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 give Hamlet's speech according to the first edition, 1603, 
 as being more suitable to the present inquiry : — 
 
 Ham. Look you, there's another Horatio, 
 
 Why mai't not be the skull of some lawyer ? 
 
 Methinks he should indite that fellow 
 
 Of an action of Batterie, for knocking 
 
 Him about the pate with's shovel, now where is your 
 
 Quirkes and quillets now, your vouchers and 
 
 Double vouchers, your leases and free-holde. 
 
 And tenements ? why that same boxe there will scarce 
 
 Holde the conveiance of his land, and must 
 
 The honor lie there ? O pittiful transformance ! 
 
 I prethee tell me Horatio, 
 
 Is parchment made of sheep-skinnes ? 
 
 Hor. I my Lorde, and of calves-skinnes too. 
 
 Ham. I faith they prove themselves sheepe and calves 
 
 That deale with them, or put their trust in them." 
 
 It may here be objected, this speech proves too 
 much for the advocates of the attorney's office ; the 
 writer must have been a practised lawyer, or else, student- 
 like, he picked the various terms and phrases out of a 
 book, and so concocted the speech. As there is scarcely 
 an atom of law in the three preceding plays, it is con- 
 trary to all probability Shakspere should have " bottled 
 up " his law for three whole years, and then suddenly 
 burst out, like Minerva from Jupiter's head, a full-blown ' 
 lawyer. 
 
 Let us examine the chronology of the first six plays ; 
 Pericles, Two Gentlemen of Veroita, and Titiis Androni- 
 cus, are acknowledged to be the first three. Hamlet 
 was certainly in existence in 1589, and most probably 
 written in '88 ; in act fifth, scene first, Hamlet says, 
 " By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I have taken 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 5 
 
 note of it ; the age is grown so picked, that the toe of 
 the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he 
 galls his kibe;" and again, "For O, for O, the hobby 
 horse is forgot.'' Now in Love's Labour's Lost is the 
 following passage : — 
 
 Arm. How hast thou purchased this experience ? 
 
 Moth. By my penny of observation. 
 
 Arm. But O,— but O.— 
 
 Moth. — the hobby horse is forgot. 
 
 Act iii., scene 1. 
 It is therefore evident, these two plays were intimately 
 connected together in the poet's mind, and must have 
 been produced about the same time. That the comedy 
 followed the tragedy, may be inferred from its containing 
 an allusion to Bank's dancing horse, exhibited in London 
 in 1589. 
 
 As the Comedy of Errors contains an allusion to the 
 civil contests in France, which followed upon the assas- 
 sination of Henry III, in August, 1589, it was most 
 probably written after Lov^s Labour's Lost. In this 
 latter play we find there is a sprinkling of law, but 
 in the Comedg of Errors the poet luxuriates, riots in 
 legal jokes and quibbles, like a whale off Wick gambol- 
 ling amongst the herrings, " very like a whale." 
 
 As all the other plays, the Poems as well as the Son- 
 nets* were written at a later period, it is unnecessary to 
 refer to them. We may therefore sum up : — there is 
 not in the first three plays a scintilla of evidence, that 
 Shakspere had been a lawyer's clerk ; in the fourth and 
 
 * I have proved clearly and concisely, that the Sonnets extend over 
 tlie period from 1591 to 1596, vide The Sonnets of ShaJrspere, re- 
 arranged. London, J. Euasell Smith, 1859. 
 
THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 fifth, Hamlet and Love's Labour's Lost, there is sufficient 
 to justify the supposition ; but in the last, the Comedy 
 of Errors, he rejoices in "the professional jokes of the 
 attorney's office in great abundance." Such circum- 
 stantial evidence forces upon us the conviction, Shaks- 
 pere commenced the study of the law after he went to 
 Loudon, and probably only a few months previous to 
 the composition of Hamlet ; and it may be added, not 
 only Hamlet's speech, but all the knowledge he displayed 
 of the law in these three plays, leads to the inference 
 that he first took to the study thereof, not merely from 
 his love of universal knowledge, but also "profession- 
 ally," as it furnished not only instructive matter, but 
 food in abundance for jokes and quibbles to please the 
 million. 
 
 Having now made a searching examination into the 
 first six plays, we are better enabled to judge what value 
 should be set on a certain celebrated Epistle ; vide Lord 
 Campbell's book, p. 26 : — 
 
 " An Epistle to the Gentlemen Students of the Two 
 Universities, by Thomas Nash," prefixed to the first 
 edition of Robert Greene's Menaphon, iu 1589. The 
 alleged libel on Shakspere is in the words following : — 
 
 " I wUl turn back to my first text of studies of delight, 
 and talk a little in friendship with a few of our trivial 
 translators. It is a common practice now-a-days, 
 amongst a sort of shifting companions that run thro' 
 every art, and thrive by none, to leave the trade of Nove- 
 rint, whereto they were born, and busy themselves vrith 
 the endeavours of art, that could scarcely Latinize their 
 neck-verse if they should have need ; yet English Seneca, 
 
OP SHAKSPERE. 
 
 read by candle light, yields many good sentences, as 
 blood is a beggar, and so forth ; and if you intreat him 
 fail', in a frosty morning, he -will afford you whole 
 Hamlets; I should say handfuls of tragical speeches. 
 But O grief! Tempus edax rerum — what is that will 
 always last ? The sea exhaled by drops will in continu- 
 ance be dry ; and Seneca, let blood, line by line, and 
 page by page, at length must needs die to our stage." 
 
 Presuming that this epistle is a pei'sonal attack on 
 Shakspere, we know, the great "endeavour of art" in 
 such -writings is so to word the article, that it shall read 
 at the first glance complimentary, and yet be full of 
 spiteful and offensive allusions; the writer also shows 
 stni greater skill, if he can season it with a few lies, 
 having an air of truth. This epistle is a masterpiece of 
 the kind ; for one set of critics contend it does not refer 
 to Shakspere personally; that Nash alludes only to 
 playwrights, who busy themselves with the endeavour 
 of art in adopting sentences from Seneca so as to rival 
 whole Hamlets in tragical speeches • — evidently compli- 
 mentary. But others consider Shakspere is the party 
 alluded to, and hence arose the supposition he had been 
 a lawyer's clerk. 
 
 Nash may have been misled by Hamlet's apparently 
 intimate knowledge of the law ; and yet as the public 
 might naturally suppose the author had been brought 
 up to the law, the assertion may have been an inten- 
 tional falsehood ; but it was a master-stroke to insLauate 
 the tragical speeches were purloined from an English 
 Seneca ; and the sneer about not being able to " Latinize 
 his neck- verse if it should be needful " must have had a 
 
8 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 telling eflPect upon the Gentlemen Students of the two 
 Universities. 
 
 As this epistle is thus evidently written with the most 
 cunning malevolencej we are no more justified in be- 
 lieving, on its authority, Shakspere had been a lawyer's 
 clerk, than that the tragical speeches are purloined from 
 Seneca, and that he could not, at this time^ 1589, Lati- 
 nize his neck-verse. It is gratifying to find these views 
 corroborated by the concluding remarks of the learned 
 Judge; — "But, my dear Mr. Payne Collier, — still I 
 must warn you, that I myself remain rather sceptical ; 
 their statement that he had belonged to the profession 
 of the law may be as false as that he was a plagiarist 
 from Seneca. Nash and Robert Greene may have in- 
 vented it or repeated it on some groundless rumour." 
 
 I have no doubt that Nash is Guildenstern or Rosen- 
 crantz, and Greene the other; for we cannot suppose 
 the latter would have allowed Nash to prefix such an 
 epistle to Menaphon, unless he also had had a quarrel 
 with Shakspere. This epistle is the retort courteous to 
 our gentle Willy ; it is highly interesting to see the 
 infant Hercules in the very struggles of his contest with 
 the two serpents, " whom I will trust, as I will adders 
 fanged;" the one on this occasion, hissed, gnashed, and 
 showed his fangs; the other in 1592, spat his venom 
 out and died; — it is worthy of note, that in neither 
 instance is there a word against Shakspere's private 
 character. 
 
or SHAKSPERE. \) 
 
 There is every reason to believe, that Shakspere, on 
 going to London, was extremely deficient in a know- 
 ledge of Latin. Jonson says, "he had small Latin 
 and less Greek "; and it is very remarkable, in the 
 first two plays the classical allusions are few and trivial, 
 the ordinary stock of a school boy ; in Pericles, Jove, 
 Juno, Diana, Cynthia, Neptune; Lucina and ^scu- 
 lapius have the flavour of the doctor's shop ; in the Two 
 Gentlemen of Verona, the Hellespont, Elysium, Hero's 
 tower and bold Leander, Phaeton, and Orpheus ; 
 
 " Madam, 'twas Ariadne passioning 
 For Theseus' perjury, and unjust flight," 
 
 perhaps denotes, he had already commenced his studies. 
 But Titus Andronicus is a Roman play, and in all pro- 
 bability selected for the special purpose of showing oflF 
 his classical acquirements ; and it should be noticed, 
 this classical ornamentation is taken entirely from the 
 jEnied and Ovid's Metamorphoses. There is also such a 
 marked distinction in this play from the others in style, 
 that Hallam says, " it is not Shakspere's in any sense "; 
 but that does not at all follow; there is a similar dif- 
 ference between the Venus and Adonis and the Lucrece, 
 altho' only one year elapsed between them. It may be 
 reasonably conjectured, that Titus Andronicus is a more 
 laboured production ; that our poet having produced the 
 best comedy, made an ambitious effort to surpass his 
 rivals in the higher and sublimer regions of tragedy; 
 that a young and comparatively imeducated poet should 
 in his twenty-third year mistake the blood and murder, 
 the horrors of the barbarian school for the true sublime, 
 is not to be wondered at ; especially when we reflect, 
 
 b2 
 
10 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 that for two centuries the master-pieces of the human 
 intellect have been regarded, not only by foreigners but 
 by his own countrymen, as the productions of a wild 
 and irregular genius, deficient in judgment and taste. 
 But now it is advanced, that Plato and Socrates had 
 prefigured in their minds the plays of Shakspere as the 
 highest form of the drama, and truest to nature : — 
 
 " It is truly singular," says Coleridge, " that Plato, 
 genuine prophet and anticipator as he was of the 
 Protestant Christian Era, should have given in his 
 Dialogue of the Banquet, a justification of our Shakspere; 
 for he relates that, when all the other guests had either 
 dispersed or fallen asleep, Socrates only, together with 
 Aristophanes and Agathon, remained awake ; and that, 
 while he continued to drink with them out of a large 
 goblet, he compelled them, tho' most reluctantly, to 
 admit that it was the business of one and the same 
 genius to excel in tragic and comic poetry, or that the 
 tragic poet ought, at the same time, to contain within 
 himself the powers of comedy," Remains, vol. xi., p. 13 ; 
 and further on he writes, p. 63, " I own I am proud 
 that I was the first in time who publicly demonstrated 
 to the full extent of the position, that the supposed 
 irregularity and extravagancies of Shakspere were the 
 mere dreams of a pedantry that arraigned the eagle 
 
 because it had not the dimensions of the swan; the 
 
 judgment of Shakspere is commensurate with his 
 genius." 
 
 It may then be taken for granted, that Skakspere on 
 going to London and being thrown into the society of 
 University men, felt conscious, perhaps galled and 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 11 
 
 ashamed, of his deficiencies in classical literature ; that 
 he spent some time in a diligent application to those 
 studies, and acquired the power of reading the Latin 
 authors with facility. Latin composition, verses, and 
 discourses, he probably regarded as sheer pedantry, 
 dilettantism, a lamentable waste of useful time; as 
 Biron says : — 
 
 " Small liave contiaual plodders ever won, 
 Save base authority from others' books ;" 
 in Hamlet he says, Seneca is heavy and Plautus light, 
 and gives in the character of Laertes a sly rap at the 
 University man, who could only express his grief for 
 his sister's loss by calling on Pelion and Olympus to fall 
 upon him; his classical knowledge, or at least the 
 display thereof, culminates in Love's Labour's Lost; 
 although it again bursts forth in the first part of Henry 
 VI, probably in consequence of Nash's spiteful epistle. 
 
 It has been said, that in the Two Gentlemen of 
 Verona we see " the germ of other plays, or rather, the 
 germ of some other of his most admired characters," so 
 it may be said, that in Titus Andronicus we see the 
 classical allusions of future works; — apart from the 
 beautiful passages quoted by Mr. Knight in his valuable 
 Notice on the Authenticity of Titus Andronicus, the 
 following extracts may be adduced as not only additional 
 evidence that Shakspere was the author, but that he 
 also wrote the play. Dido and ^neas, referred to in 
 Hamlet : — 
 
 " To bid Jlneas tell the tale twice o'er. 
 How Troy was burnt, and he made miserable ? " 
 
12 
 
 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 " And I have read that Hecuba of Troy 
 Ean mad through sorrow." 
 
 " So pale did shine the moon on Pyramus, 
 When he by night lay bath'd in maiden blood." 
 
 " As Cerberus at the Thracian poet's feet." 
 
 " As Tarquin erst 
 That left the camp to sin in Lucreee bed." 
 " Take this of me, Lucreee was not more chaste 
 Than this Lavinia, Bassianus' love." 
 
 The following lines are also Shaksperian : — 
 
 " Romans, friends, followers, favourers of my right." 
 " Gracious Lavinia, Eome's rich ornament." 
 
 " Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods ? 
 Draw near them then in being merciful : 
 Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge." 
 
 ' What, hast not thou full often struck a doe. 
 And borne her cleanly by the keeper's nose." 
 
 " She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd ; 
 She is a woman, therefore may be won ; 
 She is Lavinia, therefore must be lov'd." 
 
 " Oh ! had the monster seen those lily hands 
 Tremble like aspen leaves upon a lute. 
 And make the silken strings delight to kiss them." 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 13 
 
 The last two extracts may be compared with the 
 following : — 
 
 " How oft, when thou, my music, music play'st, &c.. 
 Do I envy those jacks, that nimble leap 
 
 To kiss the tender inward of thy hand." 
 
 Sonnet 130. 
 Suf. " She's beautiful ; and therefore to be woo'd ; 
 She is a woman ; therefore to be won." — 
 
 Henry VI., act v., scene 3. 
 Gh. " Was ever woman in this humour woo'd? 
 
 Was ever woman in this humour won ? " — 
 
 Richard III. 
 
 What was Shakspere's occupation before going to 
 London ? 
 
 " Of Shakspere's actual occupations during these 
 important yearsj when his character was formed, there 
 is not a scintilla of contemporary proof." " Nay, not- 
 withstanding the admonition to be found in his works, 
 ' Throw physic to the dogs,' it has been gravely 
 suggested, that he must have been initiated in medicine, 
 from the minute inventory of the contents of the 
 apothecary's shop in Romeo and Juliet." — Shakspere's 
 Legal Acquirements. 
 
 The gravity of the Bench relaxes into a smile, but it 
 
 is not safe for a man living in a glass house to throw 
 
 stones; — what says young Hamlet? — 
 
 " r faith they prove themselves sheepe and calves 
 That deale with them, or put their trust in them." 
 
 When I first entered upon the inquiry, " Had Shakspere 
 
14 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 been a lawyer's clerk ? " I commenced with Romeo and 
 Juliet under the impression it was one of his earlier 
 plays; and I cannot express my surprise, as the further 
 I proceeded, the more strong became my conviction, he 
 must, at some period or other, have studied medicine ; 
 for the whole play breathes of it — is instinct with the 
 spirit thereof. But as it was written in 1591, it can be 
 of no value as evidence, whether he studied medicine 
 before or after settling in London. Let us, then, ex- 
 amine the first six plays with reference to this point, but 
 in the reverse order, beginning with the last, and ending 
 with " Shakspere's own muse his Pericles first bore." 
 
 In the Comedy of Errors there is but little physic, 
 just sufficient to show the author was conversant with the 
 subject. In Love's Labour's Lost, physic predominates 
 over law. Ai-mado's letter to the king is adduced by 
 Lord Campbell as being " drawn up in the true lawyer- 
 like tautological dialect ; — no ordinary man could have 
 hit it off so exactly without having engrossed in an 
 attorney's office;" but the commencement of the letter 
 hits off the medical language of the period just as accu- 
 rately ; " So it is beseiged vrith sable-coloured melan- 
 choly, I did commend the black oppressing humour to 
 the most wholesome physic of the health-giving air, and, 
 as I am a gentleman, betook myself to walk." The first 
 scene in the second act is full of medical jokes : — 
 
 Motli. " A wonder, master ; here's a Costard broken in the 
 
 shin. 
 Cost. No salve, sir, but a plantain. 
 Arm. We will talk no more of this matter. 
 Moth. Till there be more matter in the shin. 
 Arm. Thou wer't immured, restrained, captivated, bound. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 15 
 
 Cost. True, true ; aud now you will give me my purga- 
 tion, and let me loose," 
 
 In act fourth, scene second, we read : — Hoi. " This is a gift 
 that I have ; simple, simple, a foolish extravagant' spirit, 
 fuU of forms, figures, shapes, objects, ideas, apprehensions, 
 motives, revolutions ; these are begot in the ventricle of 
 memory, nourished in the womb of pia mater, and 
 deliver'd upon the mellowing of occasion." It may be 
 said, " no ordinary man could have hit it off so exactly 
 without having" dissected in a school of medicine. 
 Rosaline's advice to Biron is a medical lecture, and he 
 replies, " I'll jest a twelvemonth in an hospital." It is 
 very evident, that in this play, physic predominates over 
 law. It should also be here mentioned, that the lan- 
 guage of Axmado is not very different from that of 
 Andrew Borde, the physician, who, according to Heame, 
 gave rise to the name of Merry Andrew, the fool of the 
 mountebank stage. His Breviary of Health, first printed 
 in 1547, begins thus : " Egregious doctours and maysters 
 of the eximious and archane science of physicke, of 
 your urbanitie exasperate not your selve." — Pictorial 
 Shakspere. 
 
 Hamlet is, like Romeo and Juliet, undeniably a medi- 
 cal production, and could only have been written by 
 one who had studied the philosophy of medicine, par- 
 ticularly psychology; and whilst "the various expres- 
 sions and allusions, which crop out, show the substratum 
 of physic in the author's mind," and give to the play 
 life and nature, the legal allusions and expressions are 
 merely so many weeds, and the whole crop might 
 be weeded out without injury, if not with benefit. 
 
16 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Ophelia's song is further evidence of Shakspere's 
 professional studies, as it is not uncommon in virtuous 
 young women for insanity to take an erotic form. " The 
 pregnant hinges of the knee " has been quoted by an 
 eminent anatomist as proof, Shakspere must have dis- 
 sected; and Hamlet^s challenge : — 
 
 " Woul't drink up Esil? eat a crocodile? 
 I'll do't." 
 
 has a strong flavour of the doctor's shop, the one being 
 a nauseously bitter draught, and the other, most likely, 
 an equally filthy electuary.* 
 
 In Titus Andronicus it may be said, both law and 
 physic are at a discount. 
 
 In the Two Gentlemen of Verona " various expressions 
 and allusions crop out, showing the substratum of 
 physic in the author's mind." Who but a medical 
 student could have put into Julia's pretty lips : — 
 
 "And here is writ — love-wounded Proteus; — 
 Poor wounded name ! my bosom, as a bed, 
 Shall lodge thee, till thy wound be thoroughly heal'd ; 
 And thus I search it with a sovereign kiss." 
 
 and Speed's jocularity is worthy of Guy's Hospital or 
 the Edinburgh Infirmary : — 
 
 Speed. " Without you ? nay, that's certain, for without 
 you were so simple, none else would ; but you are so without 
 
 * Had Hamlet said, "Woul't drink up Esil? eat a FharaoJi" there 
 never would have been a doubt on the subject, since the mumm^ was 
 certainly used medicinally : — 
 Gasp. " Your followers 
 
 Have Bwallow'd you like mummia, and, being sick 
 
 With such unnatural and horrid physic, 
 
 Vomit you up i' the kennel." — Webster's WTiite Devil. 
 
or SHAK.SPERE. 17 
 
 these follies, that these follies are within you and shine through 
 you like the water in an urinal ; that not an eye that sees you 
 but is a physician to comment on your malady." 
 
 Pericles ; — the whole play is redolent of physic^ of the 
 apothecary^s shop; not only Cerimon, hut Pericles, 
 Helicanus, Dionizza, and Marina, talk physic. As the 
 three last acts are entirely medical, I must refer the 
 reader to the play itself; the following extracts can 
 answer for themselves : — 
 
 Cer. " I held it ever, 
 
 Vii-tue and cunning were endowments greater 
 
 Than nobleness and riches : careless heirs 
 
 May the two latter darken and expend ; 
 
 But immortahty attends the former. 
 
 Making a man a god. 'Tis known, I ever 
 
 Have studied physic, through which secret art, 
 
 By turning o'er authorities, I have 
 
 [Together with my practice] made familiar 
 
 To me and to my aid, the blest infusions 
 
 That dwell in vegatives, in metals, stones : 
 
 And I can speak of the disturbances 
 
 That nature works, and of her cures ; which gives me 
 
 A more content in course of true delight 
 
 Than to be thirsty after tottering honour. 
 
 Or tie my treasure up in silken bags. 
 
 To please the Fool and Death." — 
 
 Act iii., scene 2. 
 
 "Trivial as the sketch may be called of this good 
 physician, it is a portrait; we see him, and we know 
 him, though observed only under one phase. Here, in 
 the recovery of the Queen from her trance, we have a 
 most natural description of the physician's skill being 
 suddenly called into action; his swift orders mingled 
 with his reasoning on cases, his haste to apply the reme- 
 
18 
 
 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 dies, the broken sentences, his reproof to a loitering 
 servant, the keeping the gentlemen back to ' give her 
 air;' the whole, as if by magic, making the reader an 
 absolute spectator of the scene." 
 
 "Compared to all that precedes it, or to anything 
 else, the first scene of the fifth act is wonderfully grand, 
 beautiful, and refined in art. Every one ought to know 
 it ; but it is too long for me to quote. The recall from 
 a state of stupefaction caused by grief, and the prolonged, 
 yet natural recognition of Marina, interwoven with a 
 thousand delicate hues of poetry, lead us on in admira- 
 tion, till we think nothing can be added to the effect. 
 Still the crown of all is to come, in the poetical con- 
 clusion, true to nature while it rests on our imagination. 
 Pericles, instantly after his sudden rush of joy, his over- 
 wrought excitement, fancies he listens to the ' music of 
 the spheres ! ' — he wonders that others do not hear these 
 'rarest sounds;' — then he sinks on his couch to rest, 
 and still insisting that there is ' most heavenly music,' 
 falls into a sleep, while Marina, like an angel, watches 
 at his side ! " — Ch. Armitage Brown, p. 242. 
 
 To the great knowledge of medicine displayed in this 
 production, as further proof of his early studies, may be 
 added the following passage : — " He is bound by the 
 indenture of his oath;" evidently the apprentice rejoices 
 in the pleasure of soon being out of his indentures. 
 
 We may then sum up ; — the first play is essentially 
 medical, and could only have been written by one who 
 had studied medicine ; take away the scenes connected 
 with Cerimon, Marina, and the stupor of Pericles, and 
 the play dwindles to an idle story, a copy of juvenile 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 19 
 
 verses in imitation of old Gower. In the second and 
 fifth, the Two Gentlemen of Verona and Love's Labour's 
 Lost, physic predominates over law; — whilst Hamlet 
 could only have been written by one who had studied the 
 philosophy of medicine. Thus, in four out of the first 
 five plays, the doctor stands prominently forward; but 
 the whole force and strength of the argument lies in the 
 first two plays ; there can be but one verdict, — Pericles, 
 the play I was so fond of as a boy, settles the question, 
 — Shakspere must have been "during those important 
 years, when his character was formed," an Apothecary's 
 Apprentice ; nor am I acquainted with any position in 
 life more suitable for, and so completely in harmony 
 with, the actual growth and development of his pecu- 
 liarly practical and universal mind. 
 
 This conviction is powerfully corroborated by the fol- 
 lowing extract from Coleridge : — " For a young author's 
 first work almost always bespeaks his recent pursuits ; 
 and his first observations of life are either drawn from 
 the immediate employments of his youth, and from the 
 characters and images most deeply impressed on his 
 mind in the situation in which those employments had 
 placed him ; or else they are fixed on such objects and 
 occurrences in the world as are easily connected with, 
 and seem to bear upon, his studies and the hitherto 
 exclusive subjects of his meditation. Just as Ben 
 Jonson, who applied himself to the drama after having 
 served in Flanders, fills his earliest plays with true or 
 pretended soldiers, the wrongs and neglects of the 
 former, and the absurd boasts and knavery of their 
 counterfeits. So Lessing's first comedies are placed in the 
 
20 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Universities, and consist of events and characters con- 
 ceivable in an academic life." — Literary Remains, vol. ii. 
 It should here be mentioned^ that All's Well that 
 Ends Well was written in the spring of 1587, and was 
 corrected and augmented probably about 1599. In one 
 of the most highly finished scenes we find the following 
 legal phraseology : — 
 
 Par. " Sir, for a quart d'ecu he will sell the fee-simple of 
 his salvation, the inheritance of it ; and cut the entail from 
 all remainders, and a perpetual succession for it perpetually." — 
 
 Act iv., scene 3. 
 
 Even if this passage had been in the original sketch, 
 it would have been no evidence of Shakspere having 
 been a lawyer's clerk; since it is preceded by three 
 playSj in which there are only trifling allusions to the 
 law ; but as the comedy is founded upon the story of a 
 young lady, the daughter of a physician, curing the 
 King of France with a celebrated prescription of her 
 father's, it does serve as corroborative evidence to the 
 two preceding plays, abounding in medical allusions. 
 
 Thus, after a close and searching examination of these 
 plays, we light on the interesting fact, that Shakspere in 
 his youth had been, not a lawyer's clerk, but an apothe- 
 cary's apprentice. How mysterious are the ways of 
 Providence ; how far beyond the ken of common minds ! 
 What possible situation in life could Fortune's dearest 
 spite have dropped him into, so suitable for the 
 growth and development of his bodily and mental 
 powers ? Active exercise and mental culture ; a neo- 
 phyte in the temple of nature, soon to be her great 
 High Priest! At first, as a lesson in humility, he 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 21 
 
 sweeps the shop and dusts the bottles; then gains a 
 practical knowledge of chemical compounds, and studies 
 botany, not lazily in a botanic garden, but practically, 
 rambling through the fields and woods, collecting medi- 
 cinal plants, thus sucking the milk of knowledge direct 
 from the breasts of nature. Then doctoring the stable- 
 boys at the Hall or Castle, he becomes knowing in 
 horse-flesh, hounds, and hawks; tea's with the house- 
 keeper, wine's with the butler, so learns heraldry and 
 chaffing with the maids ; — then called up at night to a 
 labour, he hurries to the patient in town or country ; 
 the baby's squalls appeased, and the mother comfortable, 
 pleased and thankful that all is well, he homewards takes 
 his way, musing now on earthly, now on heavenly things; 
 now gazing at the glorious m.orning star, an orb ne'er 
 seen nor dreamt of by the lawyer's clerk ; if seen, mis- 
 taken for the moon ; if dreamt of, 'tis the chancellor's 
 wig. 
 
 As the proper study of mankind is man, and Shaks- 
 pere did man as effectually as any tourist does the Rhine 
 or Switzerland; what could he learn of man in a 
 lawyer's office, save the meanness and selfishness of his 
 character ; whilst in the same worldly-minded creature, 
 stretched on the bed of sickness, oft the nobler feelings 
 of our nature ai-e displayed, as well as in the kindly 
 offices of that ministering angel, woman; thus, like 
 a beautiful rose-bud, daily absorbing fresh juices and 
 odours, healthily grew and expanded Shakspere's mind 
 in the doctor's shop. 
 
 At what time he quitted medicine for the stage is 
 uncertain ; but he certainly did not do so, as ill-natured 
 
22 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 people said, from a love of idleness and pleasure, but in 
 obedience to an internal impulse — an urgent, imperative 
 law of nature ; not but that lie also acted with perfect 
 freewill; for being well aware, that success in the medical 
 trade does not depend on professional skill and abilities, 
 nor on kindness and attention, but on other arts un- 
 necessary here to mention, he wisely cut the doctor's 
 shop and took to the theatre, just as a duckling, though 
 nursed by a hen, instinctively takes to the water ; and 
 thus, fate and freewill acting harmoniously together, 
 England for once had the right man in the right pTace. 
 
 Thus the two great difficulties; his hurried marriage, 
 and his going to London without his wife, are satisfac- 
 torily cleared up by the fact of his having been an apothe- 
 cary's apprentice. The hurried marriage (about which, 
 says the Rev. Gr. Gilfillan, a deal of nonsense has been 
 uttered, arising from a confusion of marriage with the 
 then common practice of previous betrothal), may be 
 easily explained on the supposition, Shakspere got leave 
 of absence for a few days, as his master could not dis- 
 pense with his services for a longer period. It may also 
 be reasonably conjectured, that Shakspere, as soon as he 
 was out of his indentures in April, 1585, instead of 
 going to London to walk the hospitals and study for the 
 Hall, went immediately under an engagement to the 
 Blackfriars Theatre, being related to one of the per- 
 formers, Thomas Greene, his fellow-townsman. Mrs. 
 William certainly could not have accompanied him on 
 this first trip, as she had been confined of twins only a 
 few weeks previously. 
 
 Our poet has with a grateful feeling, that does him 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 23 
 
 honour, portrayed his good and learned master under 
 the character of Cerimon in Pericles, and again as Friar 
 Lawrence in Rcmeo and Juliet; but the half-starved 
 Apothecary at Mantua is, I am sorry to say, doctorlike, 
 a malicious description of the opposition-shop at Strat- 
 ford. This account is confirmed by the following ex- 
 tract from Mr. Knight's Biography , p. 183, in which he 
 gives, though unintentionally, a most accurate descrip- 
 tion of that nearly extinct animal, the ancient apothe- 
 cary : — " The kind old man, going forth from his cell in 
 the evening twilight to fill his osier basket with weeds 
 and flowers, and moralising on the properties of plants, 
 which at once yield poison and medicine, has all the 
 truth of individual portraiture ; and the young Shaks- 
 ■pere, may have known some kindly old man, full of 
 axiomatic wisdom, and sufficiently confident in his own 
 management, like the well-meaning Friar Lawrence." 
 
 Joseph Warton also makes a very striking observation 
 on the passage, " I do remember an apothecary," which 
 is well parried by Mr. Knight in his illustration, but, as 
 usual, the truth lies in medio. Warton objects that 
 Romeo, to remember these terms, must think; but the 
 fact is, the items came naturally, uncalled for, into his 
 mind ; for was he not an apothecary's apprentice ? thus 
 the speech is highly appropriate and characteristic ; but 
 the critics, not being aware of this fact, are quite at sea 
 on this occasion as on several others. "I appeal to 
 those," says Warton, "who know anything of the 
 human heart, whether Romeo, in this distressed situa- 
 tion, could have leisure to think of the alligator, empty 
 boxes and bladders, and other furniture of this beggarly 
 
24 THE rOOTSTEPS 
 
 shop, and to point them out so distinctly to the audience. 
 The description is, indeed, very lively and natural, but 
 very improperly put into the mouth of a person agitated 
 with such passion as Romeo is represented to be." 
 f' What, then," replies Mr. Knight, "had he leisure to 
 do? Had he leisure to run off into declamations 
 against fate, &c. From the moment he had said, ' Well, 
 Juliet, I will lie with you to-night. Lef s see for means,' 
 the apothecary's shop became to Mm the object of the 
 most intense interest." — Delightful treat to see a well- 
 fought battle between romanticist and classicist ! 
 
 The tradition of the Royal College of Surgeons, that 
 Shakspere had been a barber-surgeon, and stuck up his 
 pole next door to the Boar's Head, Eastcheap, is scarcely 
 tenable ; nor can it be traced to an earlier period .than 
 about the middle of the last century. Nor can Shaks- 
 pere's fondness for amputations, or rather decapitations, 
 verbal as well as corporal, be adduced as evidence of his 
 surgical skill ; other playwrights did the same, and even 
 more freely; they merely followed the example of her 
 Majesty's gracious government in those happy days. Nor 
 could he have been the pupil of a physician, nor of an 
 incumbent licensed by the bishop to practise medicine, 
 since in either case he would certainly have been advised 
 and encouraged to become a proficient in classical liter- 
 ature. The question is thus reduced to its narrowest 
 compass J Shakspere must have been "during those im- 
 portant years when his character was formed," 
 
 AN APOTHECARY'S APPRENTICE, 
 
 , THE STUDENT OF NATURE. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 25 
 
 I take this opportunity of proposing the following 
 explanation of a passage in the Two Gentlemen of 
 Verona, which has much perplexed the commentators : — 
 
 Vol. " And that my love may appear plain and free. 
 
 All that was mine in Silvia, I give thee. 
 Jul. O me, unhappy ! [Fainis. 
 
 Pro. Look to the boy." — 
 
 Act v., scene 4. 
 
 " I give thee " means I forgive thee, and should have 
 been printed "1 'give thee;" Valentine says to his 
 penitent friend, I forgive you not only my banishment, 
 Sec., but since 
 
 " Who by repentance is not satisfied, 
 Is nor of heaven nor earth," 
 
 therefore, to prove the sincerity of my love and forgive- 
 ness in the strongest form possible, I forgive all you 
 have done against Silvia, a far more unpardonable 
 offence than any personal injury to myself. Valentine, 
 who had just overheard Silvia's declaration of her pas- 
 sionate love for himself, and her detestation of his 
 friend, could never have dreamt of giving his sweetheart 
 to Proteus, nor was she one to submit to be given away 
 so easily, she hath- a- way of her own ; and shortly after- 
 wards Valentine says : — 
 
 " Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death ; 
 Come not within the measure of my wrath ; 
 Do not name Silvia thine ; if once again, 
 Milan shall not Tjehold thee." 
 
 No sooner has Valentine forgiven his friend, than Julia, 
 exclaiming, " O me, unhappy ! " pretends to faint ; and 
 then, by giving to Proteus his own ring, the sly baggage 
 
 c 
 
26 TH3E FOOTSTEPS 
 
 brings about an eclaircissemeni at a most auspicious 
 moment, when her lover was in a soft and repentant 
 mood ; for is not Julia, though a warm-hearted girl, a 
 cunning gipsy too ? Does she not tell fibs in saying, 
 she " neglected to deliver a ring to madam Silvia ? " — 
 
 Jul. " Madam, he sends j'our ladyship this ring." — 
 
 Act iv., scene 4. 
 
 Did she not, also, in the first act, favour us with an 
 insight into her character by refusing the love-letter, 
 and then playing tricks to get a peep at it ? — 
 
 " How angrily I taught my brow to frown. 
 When inward joy enforc'd my heart to smUe ! " 
 
 This play, the Two Gentlemen of Verona, is of singular 
 value in assisting us to gain a knowledge of Shakspere's 
 heart as weU as of his mind; not because it contains 
 the " germ of other plays," but inasmuch as it contains 
 a passage foreshadowing a page in the history of his 
 own life ; when, a few years after, his own friend and 
 mistress happily behave false to him ; he again, for is 
 not Valentine, Shakspere, forgives his friend : — 
 
 " Ah ! but those tears are pearl, which thy love sheds. 
 And they are rich, and ransom all HI deeds." 
 
 Valentine's expression, " I 'give thee," reminds us of a 
 passage in the Jew of Malta, act i. : — 
 
 Abig. " Father, forgive me — " 
 in the note we read, 
 
 forgive me — ] Old ed. : " give me — " 
 it does not follow, that give is here a misprint for for- 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 27 
 
 give; most probably Abigail, agonised at her father's 
 violent language, was about exclaiming : — 
 
 " Give me thy blessing," 
 
 as Barabas had just said : — 
 
 " I charge thee on my blessing that thou leave 
 These devils and their damned heresy ! " 
 
 assuredly the old edition gives the correct reading ; one 
 touch of nature in Marlowe. 
 
 Ghost. " I find thee apt ; 
 
 And duller should' st thou be than the fat weed 
 That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, 
 Would'st thou not stir in this." — 
 
 Hamlet, act i., scene 5. 
 
 " The fat weed " is undoubtedly the henbane, a narcotic ; 
 the whole plant is covered with unctuous fetid hairs. 
 It is found in great abundance in Oxfordshire, and is 
 here poetically and appropriately located on Lethe's 
 bank. " The fat weed that roots itself in ease " is a 
 most graphic description of the plant, and as it is the 
 reading of the quartos, rots must consequently be 
 regarded as a misprint in the folio. 
 
 Cymbeline. The speeches of the spirits and of Jupiter, 
 in the vision of Posthumus, are not only universally 
 acknowledged to be an interpolation of the players, but 
 they are also directly opposed to the conception of the 
 
28 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 poetj who intended the dream to be a dumb show, like 
 the vision of Katharine in Henry VIII. This is proved 
 hy the speech of Posthumus at the end, and by a 
 speech at the opening of the play : — 
 
 1 Gent. " I cannot delve him to the root. His father 
 Was called Sicilius, &c. ; 
 And had, besides this gentleman in question, 
 Two other sons, who, in the wars o' the time. 
 Died with their swords in hand." 
 
 Thus, the audience would readily recognise the spirits, 
 and when Jupiter throws his thunderbolt, the book or 
 label is supposed to fall on the bosom of Posthumus ; 
 Jupiter re-ascends, and the ghosts vanish. The vision 
 consequently, is an integral part ; but it is to be hoped 
 future editors will expunge the fustian from this beau- 
 tiful drama. 
 
 Fer. " This is a most majestic vision, and 
 
 Harmonious charmingly. May I be bold 
 
 To think these spirits ? 
 Pro. Spirits, which by mine art 
 
 I have from their confines called to enact 
 
 My present fancies. 
 Fer. Let me live here ever ; 
 
 So rare a wonder'd father, and a wife, 
 
 Make this place paradise." — 
 
 Tempest, act iv., scene 1. 
 
 Charmingly, or by magic, is contra-indicated by the 
 subsequent question and answer ; if Ferdinand knew it 
 was all magic, the question and answer are unnecessary. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 29 
 
 mere tautology; charming lays, sanctioned by Gififord, 
 Johnson, and others, is far preferable, and in all proba- 
 bility the true reading. Ferdinand is charmed not only 
 by the splendour of the scene, but also by the song, and 
 by the beautiful verses of Iris and Ceres, which were 
 probably performed in recitative music. 
 
 The last passage is evidently corrupt; the masque 
 has just been enacted, "a contract of true love to 
 celebrate," and Ferdinand naturally and gallantly ex- 
 claims : — 
 
 " A wonder'd father, and so rare a wife. 
 Make this place paradise." 
 
 Wonder'd, wonderful, able to do wonders. 
 
 Ari. " Where the bee sucks, there suck I ; 
 In a cowslip's beU I lie ; 
 There I couch when owls do cry : 
 On the bat's back I do flv. 
 After sunset, merrily. 
 Merrily, merrily, shall I live now. 
 Under the blossom that hangs on the bow." — 
 Tetnpest, act v., scene 1. 
 
 Ariel, during the mid-day heat, or his custom of an 
 afternoon, takes his siesta in a cowslip's bell; sleeps 
 there at night ; and, like other fashionables in Milan 
 and Naples, promenades after sunset. 
 
 The usual reading, " after summer," is a misprint, 
 caused by the repetition of the word merrily. No 
 naturalist could possibly have committed such a blunder 
 as, " on a bat's back I do fly after summer," though he 
 
30 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 might have written on a swift's back ; but then he could 
 scarcely have added " merrily," for it would be no joke 
 to sit a swallow : — 
 
 " The swallow foUows not summer more willing, than we 
 your lordship." — Timon, act iii., scene 6. 
 
 Ariel is nearly related to Puck ; he evidently loves a bit 
 of mischief, and enjoys the fan of leading Caliban and 
 his companions into " the filthy mantled pool ; " and his 
 riding on a bat's back after sunset is a specimen of his 
 humour, an image as full of playfulness as a kitten or a 
 puppy-dog running after its tail. 
 
 " jPlying after summer" may be a very fine idea, but it 
 destroys the illusion of the scene, the domesticity of the 
 isle; and is besides, inconsistent with the simplicity of 
 Ariel's character, who is thinking only of his present 
 happiness. In this pretty song about cowslips and 
 blossoms, Ariel is describing the merry month of May, 
 and perhaps the early part of June, in the neighbour- 
 hood of London or around Stratford ; consequently, if 
 he flies after anything, it must be after the spring, and 
 not after the summer ; in the middle of May, cowslip 
 wine is made, and by the end of June how fares it with 
 the blossom that hangs on the bough of the lime-tree ? 
 
 As the Tempest was first printed in the folio of 1623, 
 the error remained unnoticed till Theobald proposed 
 sunset, and Mr. Hunter in his Illustrations, appears 
 inclined to adopt it ; even the prefix Cer. to the Song 
 in the Masque was wanting, tiU Theobald made that 
 important correction. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 31 
 
 On looking over some of Mr. Staunton's annotations, 
 I find he has anticipated me in the words cumber' d for 
 number' d in Cymbeline, and sheaf for ch^ or chief e in 
 Hamlet : — 
 
 " Of a most select and generous sheaf in that." 
 
 I had previously marked the passage in Every Man out 
 of his Humour, but his extract from the Magnetic Lady 
 is conclusive : — 
 
 " That it is found in noblemen and gentlemen 
 Of the best sheaf."— 
 
 Act iii., scene 4. 
 
 Perhaps he may uot object to the following remark as 
 corroborative of his discovery : cheff in French has the 
 meaning of " fag-end of a piece of cloth/' and chiffe is 
 a "paltry cloth or rag." The origin and meaning of 
 the word sheaf may probably be found in an old French 
 dictionary. 
 
 But as there are spots in the sun, Mr. Staunton, I 
 presume, has committed an oversight in his reading of 
 ''it lifted up his head," instead of its head; Hamlet, 
 act first, scene second. In the quarto of 1603, to which 
 he refers, we read : — 
 
 " And lifted up his head to motion, 
 Like as he would speak." 
 
 JPem. " If what in rest you have, in right you hold," — 
 
 King John, act iv., scene 2. 
 
 This passage has caused much discussion ; may not in 
 right be a misprint for unright ? 
 
33 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Brut. " For if thou path, thy native semblance on," — 
 Julius Casar, act ii., scene 1. 
 
 Another contested passage ; may not path be a misprint 
 for pass ? 
 
 " 0, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound, 
 That breathes upon a bank of violets. 
 Stealing and giving odour." — 
 
 Twelfth Night, act i., scene 1. 
 
 "So the early text/' says Mr. Staunton, "but Pope 
 changed sound to south, and the alteration has been ap- 
 proved, perhaps too readily, bynearly every editor since his 
 time." Mr. Knight, I think, adopts the same reading, 
 and has given other reasons than those adduced by Mr. 
 Staunton, why south could not have been the word used 
 by Shakspere. Both editors, I believe, are correct in 
 rejecting south; but I never heard of a sound "stealing 
 and giving odour j " the image is too incongruous, 
 although a sound breathing is unobjectionable. Sound 
 is merely a misprint for wind, and the " sweet wind " is 
 the Zephyr,* which "is said to produce flowers and 
 fruits by the sweetness of its breath." How the poor 
 ignorant Shakspere would have been belaboured by the 
 classical Popes, Johnsons, and Farmers, had the misprint 
 in the early text been south, for then they might have 
 discovered, "the breath of Auster is pernicious to 
 flowers." 
 
 * " Mild as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes." — Milton. 
 
or SHAKSPEKE. 33 
 
 Since writing the above, I find Rowe changed sound 
 into wind, meaning, it must be presumed, the south wind ; 
 but the following lines appear to settle the question : — 
 
 Bel. " O thou goddess, 
 
 Thou divine Nature, how thyself thou blazoil'st 
 In these two princely boys ! They are as gentle 
 As zephyrs, blowing below the violet, 
 Not wagging his sweet head." 
 
 Sooth. I saw Jove's bird, the' Roman eagle, wing'd 
 
 From the spungy south to this part of the west." — 
 Cymbeline, act iv., scene 3. 
 
 Mr. HaUiwell in his edition of Marston, appears to 
 
 have misapprehended the following passage : — 
 
 Ant. " The first thing he spake was, — Mellida ! 
 
 And then he swooned. 
 Mel. Aye me ! 
 Ant. Why sigh you, fair ? 
 
 Ros. Nothing but little humours ; good sweet, on. — 
 
 Antonio and Mellida, p. 16. 
 
 In a note, the editor observes, —" Ros. This prefix 
 should obviously be Mel. ;" but that it is the lively 
 Rosaline, and not the gentle Mellida, who pertly replies 
 to Antonio dressed as an Amazon, may be judged from 
 the last line in the scene : — 
 
 Eos. " Sweet Lady, nay ffood sweet, now by my troth weele 
 be bedfellows." 
 
 thou aUbearing earth;" — " chaune thy breast." 
 
 Act iii., p. 31. 
 c2 
 
34 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 instead of " chaune" Mr. Dilke reads, — " Open thy 
 breast." But chaune is merely a misprint for cleave ; — 
 and " wound the earth that it may cleave in twain," 
 says Tamburlaine. 
 
 On entering upon this inquiry I commenced, as 
 already stated, with Romeo and Juliet; I then read 
 Hamlet, being the next play in the same volume of the 
 Pictorial Shakspere; and not having seen either of the 
 plays for more than twenty years, I was forcibly struck, 
 however paradoxical it may sound, with the similarity 
 of character in Romeo and Hamlet; that is, as far as 
 the elements are concerned. Romeo is gentleness with 
 resolution, a keen wit, a little more impulsive, but then 
 he is younger, under a southern sky, and his disease is 
 love ; whilst Hamlet's simulated madness necessitates an 
 increased watchfulness over his impulses. 
 
 In two plays so dissimilar and representing two so 
 dissimilar phases of the mind, parallel passages are not 
 likely to occur ; but we may compare Hamlet's state 
 of mind after the interview with his father's spirit, and 
 Romeo's on hearing of the death of Juliet : — 
 
 5br. " These are but wild and hurling words, mv lord, 
 
 Ham. It is an honest ghost. 
 
 You hear this fellow in the cellarage. 
 Well said, old mole ! can'st work i' the ground 
 so fast." — Samlet, act i., scene 5. 
 
 £al. " Tour looks are pale and wild. 
 
 Rom. Tush, thou art deceived. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 35 
 
 Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd. 
 How oft whea men are at the point of death 
 Have they beea merry." — Romeo and Juliet, act v. 
 
 The cast of thought in these passages is evidently 
 similar ; the difiference lies in time and circumstance ; 
 both Romeo and Hamlet give vent to their overwrought 
 feelings in bitter jests. The behaviour of Hamlet to 
 Laertes, is throughout identical with Romeo's behaviour 
 to Tybalt and Paris. " The wit of Romeo/' says Mr. 
 Knightj " is the unaccustomed play of the intellect, 
 when the passions have come to the clenching point, — 
 but it is under control j" "the courage of Romeo is 
 reflective and forbearing;" assuredly Hamlet's courage 
 is also reflective and forbearing ; and his wit is certainly 
 under control. 
 
 The resemblance is much stronger, and the divergence 
 far less in the first sketch, than in the perfect Hamlet. 
 "Mr. Hallam, speaking of Romeo and Juliet as an 
 early production of our poet, points out as a proof of 
 this, ' the want of that thoughtful philosophy, which, 
 when once it had germinated in Shakspere's mind, 
 never ceased to display itself.' Hamlet, as it now 
 stands, is full of this thoughtful philosophy. But the 
 original sketch, as given in the quarto of 1603, exhibits 
 few traces of it in the form of didactic observations. 
 The whole dramatic conduct of the action is indeed 
 ' demonstrative of a philosophical conception of incidents 
 and characters : but in the form to which Mr. Hallam 
 refers, 'the thoughtful philosophy' is almost entirely 
 wanting in that sketch." — Pictorial Shakspere. 
 
 That Hamlet is Shakspere himself ought qnly to be 
 
36 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 mentioned, to be granted ; — the philosophical soliloquies, 
 the reflections in the churchyard, are acknowledged to 
 be his own meditations ; the wit is essentially that of 
 the hero of the Mermaid; the remarks about the play 
 are acknowledged to be his ; the advice to the players 
 evidently his own opinions, in fact himself speaking; 
 and the quarrel with his friends has been before alluded 
 to ; — take away then the witty sallies, the philosophy, 
 the scenes with the players and his friends, and what 
 remains of Hamlet but the scene with the ghost and the 
 soliloquy about his mother, which is the very passage 
 that forced on me the conviction, Hamlet is Shakspere 
 himself, and not, strickly speaking, a poetical conception, 
 for the soliloquy is in tone and feeling identical with 
 various sonnets. 
 
 With regard to the passage, " for the play, I remember, 
 pleased not the million," Mr. Knight observes, "the 
 introduction of these lines, we think, cannot be ac- 
 counted for upon any other supposition, but that they 
 were written by Shakspere himself; and he is so 
 thoroughly in earnest in his criticism upon the play, 
 and his complaint of its want of success is so apparently 
 sincere, that it is impossible to imagine, that the passage 
 had reference to something non-existent.'' And I may 
 add, the passage about " his two school- fellows " at the 
 end of the third act, grated so harshly on my feelings, 
 that I felt Shakspere must have had a quarrel with two 
 of his friends. 
 
 Further, I may remark, that Hamlet and Shakspere 
 are of the same age. Hamlet is usualy spoken of as 
 being a very young man ; but it seems highly impro- 
 
OP SHAKSPERE. 37 
 
 bable, imcompatible with the character, that a man so 
 well acquainted, so versed in the ways of the world, 
 should only " have just crossed the threshold of man- 
 hood-" and under the persuasion, that in its composition 
 Shakspere had drawn his materials from the burning 
 fiery lava of his own feelings, the genuine potheen of 
 life, instead of having his muse inspired by the cold 
 mountain dew of Parnassus or by the watery springs of 
 Helicon ; under this impression, I have examined and 
 compared certain dates in the play, in reference to 
 Shakspere's own age and that of his parents. 
 
 John Shakspere is supposed to have been born about 
 1530, and he married Mary Arden, in December, 1557, 
 consequently when the play was written in 1588, it 
 could be justly said of them : — 
 
 " Full thirty times tatli Phoehus' cart gone round 
 Neptune's salt-wash and Tellus' orbed ground ; 
 And thirty dozen moons with borrow'd sheen, 
 About the world have times twelve thirties been ; 
 Since love our hearts, and Hymen did our hands, 
 Unite commutual in most sacred bands." 
 
 and the clown says, " I have been sexton here, man and 
 boy, thirty years ;" the coincidence in the years is at 
 least curious. Again the clown says, he has been a 
 grave-maker ever since "the very day that young 
 Hamlet was born;" the clown refers to his appointment, 
 of course he was not the grave-maker when a boy ; — 
 and again he says, " Here's a scull now : this scull has 
 lain in the earth three-and-twenty years." " Alas, poor 
 Yorick !" says Hamlet, " I knew him, Horatio." Now 
 the grave-digger could scarcely have called him young 
 
38 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Hamlet, had he been thirty years of age ; altho' he 
 might have been called young, longer than usual, in 
 contradistinction to old Hamlet, his father. Shakspere 
 appears, like De Quincey, to have remembered some old 
 servant or friend of the family when he was only 
 eighteen or twenty months old. 
 
 The deliberate and precise alteration of the various 
 dates in the amended copy, clearly and decisively points 
 out Shakspere's intention. 
 
 Consequently there can be no doubt, the btiried 
 Majesty of Denmark was in the poet's mind his own 
 father ; and the Queen ? of all his female creations the 
 most poetical, — of all, the most practical, high-spirited, 
 and affectionate, dotingly fond of her son, and as much 
 doted upon by the living as by her former husband ; — 
 who can this wonderful woman be ? Who else but his 
 own mother, Mary Arden, the poetical and practical 
 mother of the poetical and practical son. 
 
 One problem, which it is supposed Shakspere has 
 undertaken to solve in this play, is, that the madness, 
 under which Hamlet appears to be labouring, is in 
 reality assumed; essentially a medico-psychological 
 study; has he succeeded in carrying out this idea? 
 Apparently not ; for tho' it is in a measure spoken of as 
 a disputed point, yet, commentators and critics of the 
 highest authority assert, he is not perfectly sane. 
 "Mr. Kean's conception of the part was good, the 
 melancholy abstraction, the vacillation, the derange- 
 ment of a noble mind o'erthrown, partly affected and 
 partly real, were finely delineated." — Life of Charles 
 Kean, p. 260. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 39 
 
 This question is not to be settled by eloquent periods 
 and ornate descriptions, but by an analysis or ana- 
 tomical dissection of the play : for we have to deal with 
 a young doctor, who had intimately studied the divine 
 architecture of man, whatever may have befen his 
 knowledge of the " Architecture of the Heavens," at 
 that time a disputed point. 
 
 The play opens with a scene proving the reality of 
 the ghost. In the second scene Hamlet makes his 
 appearance quibbling ; from which it may be inferred, 
 he is not only witty, but naturally of a cheerful dispo- 
 sition. In his reply to his mother, like a tender and 
 affectionate son, he avoids wounding her feelings ; but 
 in the first copy we read : — 
 
 " Him have I lost, I must of course forego," 
 
 a line clearly showing his grief depended not on the 
 loss of his father; but as such an observation might 
 raise in his mother's mind a suspicion her marriage was 
 the cause, the poet in the amended copy judiciously 
 omitted the line and put in its stead : — 
 
 " But I have that within which passeth show." 
 No sooner is Hamlet left alone, than he gives vent to 
 his feelings in a speech of the most exquisite sensibility 
 and pathos, concluding with : — 
 
 " most wicked speed, to post 
 With such dexterity to incestuous sheets ; 
 It is not, nor it cannot come to good ; 
 But break, my heart ; for I must hold my tongue ! " 
 
 Yet the critics and commentators, apparently resolved 
 iu the very beginning to make him a weak-minded man. 
 
40 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 unanimously attribute his melancholy to the death of 
 his father, although in the whole speech there is not the 
 slightest expression of regret for his loss ; the real 
 cause being the deep wound to his moral and religious 
 feelings, that his mother, whom he so dearly loved, 
 that such a radiant angel should have sinned, married 
 her deceased husband's brother. No doubt Hamlet 
 has a natural regret for the loss of his father ; but he 
 would rather, he himself had died, than his mother 
 should have committed such a fearful sin, an incestuous 
 marriage : — 
 
 " Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven, 
 Ere I had seen that day, Horatio." 
 
 This scene reminds us of the first scene in All's Well 
 that End's Well, written in the preceding year, 1587 ; 
 in each instance there is a mystification, which is 
 cleared up to the audience by a soliloquy. 
 
 The King and Queen and all the Court suppose, 
 Hamlet's grief proceeds from the loss of his father; 
 nor does he, because he dare not undeceive them : — 
 
 " But break, my heart ! for I must hold my tongue." 
 
 It is comfortable to have an authority on one's side ; 
 Professor Richardson in his Philosophical Analysis of 
 Shakspere's Remarkable Characters, thus writes, — " the 
 death of his father was a natural evil, and as such he 
 endures it. The impropriety of Gertrude's behaviour, 
 her ingratitude to the memory of her former husband, 
 and the depravity she discovers in the choice of a suc- 
 cessor, afflict his soul, and cast him into utter agony. 
 Here then is the principle and spring of all his actions." 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 41 
 
 In the third scene we have another insight into 
 Hamlet's character, which has apparently been quite 
 overlooked by the critics : — 
 
 Laer. " Earewell. [exit Laertes. 
 
 Pol. What is 't, Ophelia, he hath said to you ? 
 
 Oph. So please you, something touching the lord Hamlet. 
 
 Fol. Many, well hethought : 
 
 'Tis told me, he hath veiy oft of late 
 
 Given private time to you ; and you yourself 
 
 Have of your audience been most free and bounteous. 
 
 Oph. He hath, my lord, of late, made many tenders 
 Of his affection to me. 
 
 Pol. Affection ? puh ! you speak Uke a green girl. 
 Unsifted in such perilous circumstance. 
 
 Oph. My lord, he hath importun'd me with love. 
 In honourable fashion. 
 
 Pol. Ay, fashion you may call it ; go to, go to. 
 
 0//h. And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord. 
 With aU the vows of heaven. 
 
 Pol. Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. 
 
 This is for aU, — 
 I would not, in plain terms, //o»i this time forth. 
 Have you to slander any moment's leisure, 
 As to give words or talk with the lord Hamlet. 
 Look to 't, I charge you ; come your ways. 
 
 Oph. I shall obey, my lord." — Act i., scene 3. 
 
 Here it is evident, Hamlet has, like Helena in All's 
 Well that Ends Well, " very oft of late " forgotten his 
 father and is making hot love to Ophelia ; — we may then 
 sum up, — in the audience chamber Hamlet makes his 
 appearance quibbling, consequently he cannot be in a 
 very melancholy mood, but in his address to his mother 
 and in the soliloquy, he shows us the exquisite sensibility 
 of his nature, and how deeply distressed and outraged 
 
42 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 have been his moral and religious sentiments, by his 
 mother's marriage ; — he receives his friends graciously ; 
 and common report says, he gives much of his time to 
 Ophelia. I trust then, it has been clearly proved, 
 Hamlet is not at the opening of the play the profoundly 
 melancholy character he is generally represented. 
 
 Throughout the interview with the ghost, Hamlet's 
 intellect remains clear and unaffected ; he never loses 
 his presence of mind ; the frenzied excitement he felt at 
 first, gradually softens down during the spirit's narrative, 
 giving place to a desire of revenge. By the fading away 
 of the ghost, the strain on his nerves and intellect is 
 somewhat relieved, and he recovers still further by the 
 act of ivriting in his tables ; so that on the arrival of his 
 friends he seeks to turn off their inquiries and give relief 
 to his still agitated feelings by jesting ; audit is possible, 
 this excitement of the feelings, with intellectual power to 
 control them, may have suggested the idea of feigning 
 himself mad. 
 
 Before proceeding any further, we must examine into 
 the duration or period of time occupied by the play ; for 
 there is no immediate connexion marked between the 
 first and second acts ; but as the second act opens with 
 Polonius sending money and notes to his son, a con- 
 siderable period must have elapsed since Laertes de- 
 parted, and since Hamlet saw the ghost. 
 
 The first act occupied two nights and the intervening 
 day. In the second act, scene first, Polonius has just 
 dismissed Reynaldo, when the gentle Ophelia hurries in 
 with her hand on her heart, " Oh, my lord, I have been 
 so affrighted,'^ and tells him about Hamlet's strange 
 
OP SHAKSPEEE. 43 
 
 visitation ; Polonius then goes to the castle, " come go 
 we to the king/' to whom he immediately announces : — 
 
 " The ambassadors from Norway, my good lord. 
 Are joyfully returned ; " — Act ii., scene 2. 
 
 on leaving the royal presence, or rather exeunt king and 
 attendants, he has an amusing conversation with Hamlet, 
 to whom he presents Roseucrantz and Guildenstern. 
 We have then the scene with the players, in which 
 Hamlet says, " we'll have 't tomorrow night ; " the act 
 terminates with the soliloquy "the spirit that I have 
 seen may be the devil, the play's the thing, wherein I'll 
 catch the conscience of the king." 
 
 We thus see the second act occupies exactly one day. 
 
 On the following day in the evening, the play is per- 
 formed ; thus the whole of the third act, and the first 
 three scenes of the fourth act occupy one day and a 
 night ; and to Hamlet's remark, " my father died within 
 these two hours," Ophelia replies, " Nay, 'tis twice two 
 months, my lord ; " and as the first act occurred two 
 months after the death of the king, " But two months 
 dead ! — nay, not so much, not two," consequently two 
 months must have elapsed between the first and second 
 acts. 
 
 The fourth scene in the fourth act occiurs at daybreak, 
 and the three remaining scenes occupy at least several 
 weeks, as Fortinbras and the English ambassadors appear 
 in the last act. 
 
 The fifth act occupies half a day or a few hours only, 
 as the king on leaving the churchyard says to Laertes, 
 " we'U put the matter to the present push." 
 
44 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 We may now return and examine Hamlet's conduct in 
 act second, scene first. For two long months had Hamlet 
 submitted to have his letters refused, and access to his 
 Ophelia denied ; what ! what ! I hear voices around me 
 exclaiming, Hamlet constantly breaking his vow ! im- 
 possible ! it is, however, ye impalpable beings ! perfectly 
 true, down in black and white, on the word of Ophelia. 
 Polonius laid his commands on her at the very hour 
 Horatio was telling Hamlet about the ghost ; we may 
 be certain, he neither visited nor wrote to her that 
 evening ; consequently it must have been during these 
 two months, after he had vowed his vow, " unmixed 
 with baser matter," that Ophelia " did repel his letters 
 and denied his access." But when has Shakspere ever 
 made love " baser matter," " seconds ; " love is the crea- 
 tive principle of nature, and the poet of nature has always 
 made lovely woman the primum mobile ; Silvia, Juliet, 
 &c., all quit father and mother and make runaway 
 matches, and are by the moral poet of nature punished or 
 rewarded according to their deserts. 
 
 The truth then must be faced ; Hamlet is undeniably 
 in an ecstasy of love, as Polonius calls it ; and no doubt 
 the interview was followed by beneficial effects on both 
 sides ; his anxiety would be relieved by the sight of her . 
 and Ophelia ? less palpitation of the heart, less sighing 
 over her " sewing in her chamber ; " she now would have 
 undoubted evidence, that his affection depended on her 
 love, was caused by her unkindness. And I have noticed 
 it these thirty years, young ladies do not break their 
 hearts, though their cruelty may drive their lovers to 
 distraction ; they seem, sweet enchantresses, to have an 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 45 
 
 implicit reliance on certain charms in their possession to 
 cure the disease ; was such Shakspere's opinion ? how 
 was Ophelia- affected on this occasion, and also the 
 Queen ? — 
 
 Tol. " How now, Ophelia ? what's the matter ? 
 Oph. Alas, my lord, I have been so affrighted. 
 Fol. Mad for thy love? 
 Opk. My lord, I do not know ; 
 
 But truly I do fear it." — Act ii., scene 1. 
 
 Queen, " And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish. 
 
 That your good beauties be the happy cause 
 Of Hamlet's wUdness : so shall 1 hope your virtues 
 Win bring him to his wonted way again. 
 To both your honours. 
 
 Oph. Madam, I wish it may." 
 
 Act. iii., scene 1. 
 
 O, sweet, innocent, and gentle Ophelia ! the faith of 
 the sisterhood is strong within thee. On the supposition 
 that only a few days elapse between the first and second 
 acts, this scene has generally been regarded as a simu- 
 lated ecstasy on the part of Hamlet, to deceive the king 
 and his courtiers ; but the lapse of two months, with the 
 "rejection of his letters and visits, incontestably settles the 
 question. This view of his passionate love is confirmed 
 by his own self-accusing conscience in the Queen's 
 bedchamber : — 
 
 Sam. " Do you not come your tardy son to chide, 
 That, laps'd in time and passion, let's go by 
 The important acting of your dread command ? " 
 
 On the following morning, Hamlet having been sum- 
 moned to the presence of the king, meets Ophelia; at 
 this interview Ophelia, discovering he is more seriously 
 
46 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 affected than she had previously imagined^ becomes her- 
 self deeply agitated and distressed; and soon after, 
 hearing of her father's lamentable death and her lover's 
 banishment, her brother being still in Paris, no wonder 
 the young lady breaks her heart and becomes deranged. 
 On the same evening, after this meeting with Ophelia, 
 the play is performed, at which the king is proved 
 guilty; — soon afterwards, Hamlet, just on the point of 
 departure to visit the queen, thus expresses his burning 
 desire for vengeance : — 
 
 " Now could I drink hot blood. 
 And do such bitter business as the day 
 Would quake to look on." 
 
 On the way to his mother he suddenly comes on the 
 king at his prayers ; notwithstanding the privacy and 
 secrecy of the opportunity, by a desperate effort of his 
 will he controls the almost irresistible impulse to kill 
 him ; strange to say, this scene is regarded as a proof of 
 his irresolution ; and though Johnson accused him of 
 being influenced by motives inhuman and fiendish, it is 
 now universally agreed, the reasons assigned by Hamlet 
 are not his real motives, but mere excuses, a self-decep- 
 tion, to avoid the shedding of blood, marks of irresolu- 
 tion and procrastination. The critics in accusing him 
 on this occasion of weakness and irresolution, are 
 certainly consistent with their previous opinion in 
 attributing his deep grief to the death of his father, 
 though he never uttered a single regret for him, nor 
 said a word about him except that he was " an excellent 
 king," and compared with his brother, " Hyperion to a 
 satyr." 
 
OP SHAKSPERE. 4/ 
 
 Hamlet, like his critics, is consistent with, himself: 
 the very next night, being at sea, he writes out a new 
 commission : — 
 
 Ham. " An earnest conjuration from the king, — 
 
 As England was his faithful tributary, &c.. 
 Without debatement further, more, or less, 
 He should the bearers put to mdden death. 
 Not shriving time allowed." 
 
 ^ It would seem, these erroneous impressions about 
 Hamlet's character, have arisen from a misapprehension 
 or inattention to the doctrines of his religion ; — a heart 
 full of tenderness and noble feelings, a keen and ready 
 wit, quick in action as thought or lightning, with a will 
 strong to control the most sudden and violent impulse, 
 an intellect godlike, but subordinate to his religioiis 
 belief. Had he killed the king at his prayers, his soul 
 at the moment pure and free from sin, what would have 
 been the inevitable consequence ? Scarcely could he have 
 sheathed his sword, ""ere his father's ghost appears, 
 furious, " poor fool ! weak, rash, and imbecile fool ! you 
 swore to revenge my murder j your uncle is in heaven 
 and I'm in hell;" exit the perturbed spirit; Hamlet, 
 now really mad, rushes after his father to the regions 
 below ; — finale, an awful smell of brimstone. 
 
 His father's spirit had told him something about the 
 other world : — 
 
 Ghost. " I am thy father's spirit ; 
 
 Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night ; 
 And, for the day, confin'd to fast in fires. 
 Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature 
 Are burnt and purg'd away." 
 
48 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Shakspere is not answerable for the religion in the 
 playj which is the Roman Catholic; and probably pur- 
 gatory was still in his day the popular belief amongst 
 the lower classes. " Purgatory^ a place in which souls 
 are supposed by the Papists to be purged by fire from 
 carnal impurities, before they are received into heaven," 
 — Johnson. 
 
 Hamlet therefore naturally wishes his father's murderer 
 to undergo the penalty of his crime, a limited period of 
 punishment, and not an eternal damnation. The follow- 
 ing passage has evidently been misunderstood as well 
 by Johnson as by the Coleridges and Lambs : — 
 
 Ham. " Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven ; 
 And that his soul may be as damn'd and black. 
 As heU, whereto it goes." 
 
 " hell" here does not mean the place of eternal punish- 
 ment ; but purgatory, or the place of departed spirits ; 
 Johnson : — 
 
 " the place of separate souls whether good or bad. 
 and in Tamburlaine, Cosroe exclaims : — 
 
 " My soul begins to take her flight to hell. 
 And summons all my senses to depart." 
 
 and in Nash's Pierce Pennilesse, his Supplication to the 
 Devil, we read, p. 66, — " Hell is a place where the souls 
 of intemperate men, and ill livers of all sorts, are de- 
 tained and imprisoned till the general resurrection." 
 
 The last words of the ghost were, "remember me;" 
 that is, not his mere murder, but his suffering the tor- 
 tures of purgatory ; Claudius must therefore undergo 
 the same penalties : but the critics can not or will not 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 49 
 
 perceive the difference between temporal and eternal 
 punishment; they will persist in judging Hamlet by 
 protestant doctrines and not as a papist. Shakspere 
 avoids the abusive language of the early reformers, and 
 generally portrays his friars as good and estimable men ; 
 but he never hesitates to point out at the same time the 
 evil tendencies of the doctrines of the Church of Rome ; 
 and his intention on the present occasion evidently is, 
 to show the injurious action of a belief in purgatory; 
 how much it tends to nourish an unforgiving spirit ; 
 just as in the Jjucre'ce he shows the injurious effects of 
 the priestly power of absolution ; when Tarquin has his 
 hand on the chamber-door, he starts, frightened at the 
 thought of his intended crime, but is instantly re-assured : 
 
 " Then Love and Fortune be my gods, my guide ! 
 My win is back'd with resolution ; 
 Thoughts are but dreams till their effects be tried, 
 T/ie blackest sin is clear'd with absolution." — 
 
 Stanza 51. 
 Hamlet's revenge must consequently be regarded as 
 essentially papistical, and perfectly natural under the 
 circumstances. 
 
 On quitting the king he proceeds to his mother's 
 chamber ; after a few words, hearing a noise behind the 
 arras, quick as lightning, he draws his sword, " a rat, 
 dead for a ducat, dead;" unfortunately, instead of the 
 king, it was that " wretched, rash, intruding fool,'^ 
 Polonius. To his affrighted exclamation on the sudden 
 entrance of the ghost, his mother sighs forth, " Alas he's 
 mad;'^ of course she listens patiently, like a sensible 
 woman, not understanding a word about it, to his learned 
 dissertation on insanity ; nods yes, yes, to everything he 
 
 D 
 
50 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 says, and departs promising Mm, "1 have no life to 
 breathe what thou hast said to me;" and goes, like an 
 innocent and affectionate wife straight to her jolly old 
 king and tells him all, " poor dear boy ! alas, he's mad." 
 The queen never had, and even now, she has not the 
 slightest suspicion the king had killed his brother ; nor 
 had Hamlet the slightest suspicion of such a deed, till 
 Horatio told him about the ghost : — 
 
 Ham. " My father's spirit in arms ! all is not well ; 
 I doubt some foul play." 
 and on the spirit telling him of his' murder, he exclaims 
 in astonishment, "Murther?" 
 
 As the ghost, on this occasion, in the queen's bed- 
 chamber, is pleased to remark : — 
 
 " Do not forget ; this visitation 
 Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose," 
 
 the commentators have eagerly seized upon this un- 
 lucky observation, as vmdoubted proof, on the word of a 
 ghost, of Hamlet's irresolution and unfixedness of purpose; 
 but they have merely dropped on a mare's nest ! every 
 child in the kingdom knows, a ghost knows nothing ex- 
 cept just what concerns himself; and this ghost, as 
 Shakspere intended, betrays the most astonishing igno- 
 rance ; for he says, " I am come to whet thy almost 
 blunted purpose;'' and yet Hamlet has jnst slain 
 Polonius ; the ghost knew from his cold midnight walks, 
 and from not seeing his fraternal murderer by the fire- 
 side below, that Hamlet had not yet revenged his mur- 
 der ; he therefore naturally supposed his son had been 
 remiss in the undertaking. But the fact is, Hamlet, 
 being a moral and religious man, and fearing lest the 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 51 
 
 spirit might have been aa evil spirit tempting him to 
 sin, would not put his uncle to death, till he had clearer 
 evidence of his guilt ; which was proved only an hour 
 or two ago, and from that moment his blood had been 
 boiling at fever-heat to execute his father's dread com- 
 mand ; with a desperate effort he had luckily cheeked 
 the violent impulse to kill the king at his prayers, and 
 then, with thought rapid as lightning, and with a will 
 as quick and decisive, he passed his sword through the 
 arras, thinking the king was there j assuredly Hamlet 
 needed no fresh stimulus; evidently the ghost was at 
 fault ; the old gentleman had neglected applying at the 
 telegraph office before leaving home to take his midnight 
 walk. 
 
 Hamlet, shortly after his mother's departure, as may 
 be easily guessed, was arrested by his two dear friends 
 and taken before the king; who immediately ordered 
 him to sea ; on the road to the vessel he soliloquizes : — 
 
 " Now whether it be 
 Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple 
 Of thinking too precisely on the event, &c." 
 
 This speech has again been adduced as proof of his 
 irresolution and procrastination ; but surely it is nothing 
 else than the natural depression following over-excite- 
 ment ; he has not had a wink of sleep for at least twenty- 
 four hours, and during the last twelve his mind has been 
 constantly on the stretch in a state of violent excitement; 
 now that all hope of revenge is over for the present, a de- 
 pression follows, a hopeless sinking at the heart, though 
 he struggles against it and upbraids himself for not 
 having done, what he never had an opportunity of doing; 
 
52 THK FOOTSTEPS 
 
 he now blames himself for ever having doubted the 
 spirit was his father's ; but a few, hours' sleep on board 
 the vessel restored life and energy to his exhausted 
 frame. 
 
 We next meet with Hamlet in the church-yard ; as 
 the funeral procession approaches, he notices : — 
 " The queen, the courtiers : Who is that they follow ? 
 
 And with such maimed rites ! This doth betoken, 
 
 The corse they follow did with desperate hand 
 
 Foredo its own life. 'Twas of some estate : 
 
 Couch we a while, and mark." 
 
 He then overhears Laertes say : — 
 
 " I tell thee, churlish priest, 
 A ministering angel shall my sister be, 
 When thou liest howling." 
 Let us remember, that Hamlet has not heard anything 
 of Ophelia since last he saw her in the palace, we may 
 then judge, what an intensity of passion and self-control 
 must be concentrated in these words, " What, the fair 
 Ophelia !* On Laertes leaping into the grave and giving 
 way to the violence of his feelings, is it wonderful or 
 surprising, that Hamlet's pent-up feelings should burst 
 out beyond aU control, and sweep him away in the 
 torrent? and yet, what? he leaps into the grave, is 
 assaulted by Laertes, and this so-called madman says : — 
 
 " I prithee, take thy fingers from my throat ; 
 Sir, though I am not spleuetive and rash, 
 Yet have I something in me dangerous. 
 Which let thy wiseness fear : Away tliy hand." 
 
 The very language of one exerting the highest mastery 
 
 * Komeo's exclamation, on hearing of the death of Juliet, " la it even 
 so ? " is identical with Hamlet's ; each haa the same powerful will to 
 suppress any sudden emotion. 
 
OF SHACSPERE. 53 
 
 over himself; they are separated, and Hamlet makes a 
 passionate speech, which is neither a real aberration nor 
 a simulated frenzy, but merely the speech of a man in 
 a towering passion, ending, " Nay, an thou'lt mouth, I'll 
 rant as well as thou ; " the queen echoes the cry, " this 
 is mere madness ; " and then Hamlet makes a most 
 characteristic speech ; the first half, the quiet observation 
 of a man who has completely recovered from his passion ; 
 the second half, simulated madness on purpose to carry 
 on the deception about his lunacy : — 
 
 Ham. " Hear you, sir ; 
 
 What is the reason you use me thus ? 
 I lov'd you ever : But it is no matter ; 
 Let Hercules himself do what he may, 
 The cat will mew, and dog will have his day." 
 
 \ That the king and queen should attribute Hamlet's 
 
 / conduct to insanity is natural enough ; but if either be 
 
 mad, Laertes is the one; there has been time enough 
 ' for his grief to settle down, and yet he leaps into the 
 
 grave, calling frantically out: — 
 
 " Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead ; 
 Till of this flat a mountain you have made. 
 To o'er-top old Pelion, or the skyish head 
 Of blue Olympus." 
 
 But in defence of his sanity, it must be remembered, 
 this speech is undoubtedly a satirical stroke of the poet 
 against the affectation of " the young gentlemen of the 
 two Universities," and of his poetical rivals, Peele, 
 Greene, and Marlowe, who could only express the vio- 
 lence of their love and grief by such bombastic raving ; 
 and to which Hamlet replies : — 
 
54 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 " And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw 
 Millions of acres on us ; till our ground, 
 Singeing his pate against the burning zone. 
 Make Ossa like a wart ! " 
 not a very irrational reply for a man in a passion; 
 After returning from the funeral, Horatio says : — 
 " It must be shortly known to him from England, 
 What is the issue of the business there. 
 Ham. It will be short ; the interim is mine ; 
 
 And a man's life's no more than to say, one." 
 
 It is folly guessing and scheming what Hamlet 
 would or might have done ; it is clear he intended acting 
 quickly and decisively ; but events were hurrying on with 
 fearful rapidity beyond the control of the actors j for 
 scarcely had he told Horatio, how cleverly he had paid 
 off Eosencrantz and Guildenstem, when Lord Osric 
 comes with a message from the king requesting him to 
 play at foils with Laertes ; he accepts the chalenge ; 
 and to Horatio's remark, " you will lose this wager, miy 
 lord," he replies, " I do not think so ; but thou wouldst 
 not think, how ill all's here about my heart ; but it is 
 no matter." How could he feel otherwise than ill at 
 heart ? it is not more than an hour or two, since he first 
 heard of Ophelia's death, saw her buried with maimed 
 rites, and quarrelled with her brother, whom he had 
 "ever loved;" he cannot, like Romeo, say, "I'll lie 
 with her to-night ; " he must fulfil the dread command 
 of his father's spirit ; and when executed, what is the 
 world to him ? Ophelia dead ! Ophelia whom he loved 
 more than forty thousand brothers, and for whose love 
 he wept over the dead body of Polonius, " he weeps for 
 what is done." In this state of depression, and the heart 
 
OP SHAKSPERE. 
 
 55 
 
 ill at ease, the mind naturally anticipates coming evils, 
 and is more inclined to trust to chance or fate, than rely 
 on its own energies ; but Hamlet rises superior to this 
 feeling, and is, throughout, thoroughly master of him- 
 self j in the scene with the frivolous courtier he is 
 " most acute, playful, but always the gentleman ; " and, 
 as he quibbled at his first appearance, he again in this 
 last scene, notwithstanding his being so ill at heart, 
 shows the witty and poetical side of his nature : — 
 
 Ram. " I'D. be your foil, Laertes ; in mine ignorance 
 
 Tour skill shall, like a star, i' the darkest night. 
 Stick fiery off indeed." 
 
 And on hearing the weapon was poisoned, he instantly 
 stabs the king, " now venom do thy work," and makes 
 the horror-stricken wretch drink of the poisoned bowl ; 
 he acts with the same rapid thought and decisive will, 
 as when he pierced the arras with his sword, " a rat, 
 dead for a ducat, dead;" and thus the king dies at the 
 culminating point of his iniquitous career. 
 
 " The catastrophe," says Johnson, " is not very happily 
 produced ; the exchange of weapons is rather an expe- 
 dient of necessity than a stroke of art. A scheme might 
 easily be formed to kill Hamlet with the dagger, and 
 Laertes with the bowl." Let us examine and analyse 
 this scene of horrors. — The Queen fallen from her origi- 
 nal loveliness and purity, and become addicted to drink, 
 dies of the bowl poisoned by him, who first poisoned her 
 mind, corrupted her affections from her husband, and 
 induced her to form an incestuous marriage ; she dies 
 first, mercifully. The king dies at the moment, his cup 
 of guUt is full to the brim ; his beloved Gertrude dying 
 
56 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 by his guilty means, and he not daring to put forth a 
 hand to save her. Laertes was guilty in the first in- 
 stance of casting suspicion on Hamlet's honour and love, 
 and now like a base knight he fights with a poisoned 
 foil, and justly falls by the hand of Hamlet. The only 
 innocent person is Hamlet, but tragic propriety compels 
 his death ; he has however the consolation of having re- 
 venged his father's murder j nor could he have died 
 more appropriately than by Laertes' hand, whose father 
 he had killed, though accidentally ; and of whose sister's 
 insanity and death he was the unhappy, though innocent 
 cause. We thus see, what a botch Johnson with his 
 bowl and dagger would have made of the retributive 
 justice, so clearly shown in this last scene. 
 
 Putting Hamlet himself aside, it becomes a curious 
 question, What was Shakspere's intention in writing this 
 fifth act ? it is a satire throughout j the scene with Osric 
 is acknowledged to be a satire, so is the scene with the 
 clowns; and by like reasoning, the burial scene is a 
 satire on the forms and ceremonies of the Romish 
 Church ; the bombast of Laertes is in the same cate- 
 gory; and when Hamlet leaps into the grave, calling 
 out, " I am Hamlet the Dane," had not Laertes acted 
 naturally, and violently assaulted him, what a fine oppor- 
 tunity for the poet to have given us a poetical duet in 
 alternate chaunts to the praise of Ophelia ; particularly 
 as Hamlet, overpowered by his love, forgets on this 
 occasion his pretended lunacy — forgets the ghost and 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 57 
 
 the dread command, "remember me;" but was not 
 Hamlet's excited harangue also intended for satire, espe- 
 cially in ridicule of Tamburlaine's rhodomontade when 
 Zenocrate dies : — 
 
 V TFTiat, is she dead? Tchelles, draw thy sword 
 And wound the earth, that it may cleave in twain," 
 
 the exclamation, "What, the fair Ophelia," appears 
 
 to be the link connecting the two scenes together : — 
 
 " Nay, an' thon'lt mouth, 
 rU rant as well as thou ;" 
 
 it should be remembered, Tamburlaine at this time 
 was a popular drama; nor is it credible Shakspere 
 would have placed Hamlet in such a false position, 
 as the hero of a disgraceful row at Ophelia's grave, 
 without some definite object, readily understood by the 
 audience ; the poet has therefore given us in its prosaic 
 truthfulness to nature, a scene both local and universal 
 in its application, a satire against Elizabethan bombast 
 and the sentimental prettinesses of the classical school. 
 Thus while these various scenes of buffoonery for the 
 million, and of Night Thoughts for a Young, are woven 
 together into an harmonious whole, Hamlet throughout, 
 except at the duel, may be regarded as the mere puppet 
 of the poet, a mouthpiece for the expression of his own 
 sentiments ; hence the supposition, which the soliloquy 
 in act first, scene second, gave rise to, is most forcibly 
 and wonderfully confirmed, and becomes a conviction in 
 this fifth and final act, — that Hamlet is Shakspere 
 himself. 
 
 d2 
 
58 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Here follow a few remarks on some of the much vexed 
 passages : — 
 
 King. " But now my cousin Hamlet, and my son, — 
 Ham. A little more than kin and less than kind." [aside. 
 
 Act i., scene 3. 
 
 "less than kind" is usually explained by "I am little of 
 the same nature with you ;" this explanation, however, 
 conveys an unfavourable impression, as a vain and con- 
 ceited remark, and uncalled for, especially as an aside ; 
 as if Hamlet had said, " I am not such a vile fellow as 
 you ;" whereas, the straightforward meaning, " Altho' I 
 am now more nearly related to you, my feelings are less 
 than kind," shows to the audience the exact state of his 
 sentiments at the moment. The quibble may then, 
 perhaps, be thus explained, " A little more than kin and 
 less than natural," that is, "Altho' I am now, in a 
 sense, your son, I have not the natural feelings of a son 
 towards you." 
 
 King. " How is it that the clouds still hang on you ? 
 
 Hara. Not so, my lord ; I am too much i' the sun." 
 
 Act. i., scene 2. 
 
 " too much V the sun" is usually explained as meaning, 
 " deprived of the charities of kindred." Mr. Staunton's 
 annotation is, "By this Hamlet may mean, 'I am too 
 much in the way,' a mote in the royal eye ; but his reply 
 is purposely enigmatical." 
 
 The observation, "less than kind," was an aside; but 
 
OF SHAKSPEKE. 59 
 
 " too much i' the sun," is a direct and open reply to his 
 majesty; it must therefore bear a courteous and even 
 complimentary signification; as if Hamlet had said, 
 " Not sOj my lord, I am too much in your Majesty's 
 favour ; you are too gracious for me to feel myself under 
 a cloud." To be in disgrace at Court is to be under 
 a cloud ; to be in favour is to be basking in the sun- 
 shine of the royal presence, one of the commonest 
 images in the language. This explanation is confirmed 
 by the concluding words of the scene, and by the follow- 
 ing extract : — " The Queene seemade troubled to-daye, 
 says Harrington. Hatton came out from her presence 
 with iU. countenance, and pulled me aside by the girdle, 
 and saide, in secret waie, If you have any suite to 
 dale, I praye you put it aside. The sunne doth not 
 shine." — Drake's Shakspere, vol. ii., p. 150. 
 
 This harsh explanation, " deprived of the charities of 
 kindred," reminds us of "the swaggering upspring 
 reels," which does not mean " the upstart king," but a 
 dance, a kind of hop; and thus through these erro- 
 neous interpretations, there is attributed to Hamlet a 
 worse feeling towards his uncle at the present moment, 
 than the context justifies. 
 
 Ham. \readi\ " For if the sun breed maggots in a dead 
 dog, being a god kissing carrion, — Have you a daugliter?" — 
 
 Act ii., scene 2. 
 
 This passage has caused much ingenious speculation ; 
 but the simplest and easiest explanation is, not unfre- 
 
60 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 quently, nearer the truth than a more erudite or far- 
 fetched meaning. Instead of finishing the sentence, 
 Hamlet carries on his joke of pretending not to know 
 Polonius, and asks, " Have you a daughter ?" On this 
 occasion we must remember, the conversation is a tete-a- 
 tete, and that two months have passed away since 
 Hamlet saw the ghost ; time has -weakened the impres- 
 sion, he suspects it to have been an illusion, though at 
 intervals the idea rises vividly in his mind, it may have 
 been his father's spirit; in the meantime absence has 
 added strength to his love, by dwelling on the image of 
 Ophelia ; and it is hardly two hours ago since he was 
 made supremely happy by a stolen interview with her : 
 — his asking, "Have you a daughter?" is therefore a 
 direct allusion to his visit that morning, and to the 
 strict seclusion in which she had been kept during the 
 last two months, not allowed to walk out, lest Hamlet 
 should meet her. He therefore says, "Let her not 
 walk i' the sun : conception is a blessing ; but not as 
 your daughter may conceive, — \before marriage\ friend, 
 look to 'i." This mocking or jesting should be com- 
 pared with Polonius' speech to Ophelia, to which it is 
 the retort courteous . — 
 
 Pol. Affection ? puh ! you speak like a green girl, 
 Unsifted in sucb perilous circumstance. 
 Do not believe his vows, 
 Mere implorators of unholy suits, 
 Breathing like sanctified and pious bonds. 
 The better to beguile." — 
 
 Act i., scene 3. 
 
OF SHAKSPEBE. 61 
 
 " Soft you now ! 
 The fair OpheUa."— 
 
 Act iii., scene 1. 
 
 With regard to the soliloquy, " To be or not to be/' 
 Mr. Hunter in his Illustrations has drawn attention to 
 the fact, that in the first sketch the king says, "See 
 where he conies poring upon a book," and he adds, " It 
 is thus manifest the poet's intention was, that these 
 should be meditations of Hamlet on something which 
 he found written in a book which he holds in his hand, 
 and are not to be regarded as from the beginning thoughts 
 springing up in his own mind." 
 
 Before analysing his conduct to Ophelia, we must 
 first carefully examine into all the circumstances re- 
 specting the exact position of each party. Ophelia has for 
 two months steadily obeyed her father's injunctions in 
 denying herself to Hamlet : but yesterday he rushed 
 into her presence in an ecstasy of love, and to-day there 
 is a decided change in her favour ; the king and queen 
 are consenting parties to her love; as gentleness and 
 submission are two leading traits in her character, she 
 readily agrees to practise what she must regard as a 
 very innocent bit of deception on her lover ; she looks 
 forward then to the interview, a little anxious, perhaps, 
 but with feminine faith in her charms; But a great 
 change has come over Hamlet since yesterday morning ; 
 this evening will be decided the guilt or innocence of the 
 king ; he is therefore absorbed with his vow ; love must 
 yield to his father's dread command ; on his way to the 
 presence of the king he revolves in his mind a philoso- 
 phical problem on life and death; he is therefore in a grave 
 and serious mood. 
 
63 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Notwithstanding the deep affection he bore Ophelia, 
 and the serious mood he was in, Shakspere will make 
 him act inexorably according to the laws of his feign&i 
 madness ; and happily his disease is a melancholy and 
 not a lunacy. All his observations, therefore, are uttered 
 in harmony with his feelings, in a kind, though sad and 
 regretful tone. This view of the question is supported 
 by the remark of the king, " There's something in his 
 soul, o'er which his melancholy sits on brood," words 
 quit© incompatible with the supposition he spoke 
 mockingly, dancing and grinning about the lobby like a 
 lunatic. 
 
 He first addresses her in words most sweet and sad : — 
 
 " Nymph, in thy orisons. 
 Be all my sins remembered." 
 " I humbly thank you, well, well, weR !" 
 " No, no ! I never gave you ought." 
 
 On her again offering to return his gifts, he then sus- 
 pects she is playing a part ; his " ha ! ha !" is simply the 
 exclamation on this suspicion arising in his mind, and he 
 asks, "Are you honest?" merely meaning, "Are you 
 acting honestly, of your own accord, in offering to restore 
 these gifts?" the question is most natural; he had not 
 spoken to her for full two months ; she prevaricates of 
 necessity, and says questionly, "My lord!" he is then 
 satisfied she is playing a part, and he quibbles on the 
 word honest, and asks, "Are you fair ?" but at the same 
 time everything is done in the kindest and gentlest 
 manner ; " Get thee to a nunnery ; go thy ways, and 
 quickly too," was the best advice he could give ; for this 
 very evening his fate will be decided ; " blood and de- 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 63 
 
 struction shall be so in use," that her father, the king's 
 confidential minister, had better " let the doors be shut 
 upon him, that he may play the fool nowhere but in's 
 own house." This allusion to her father, which Hamlet 
 certainly could not avoid, as the king and Polonius were 
 listening behind the arras, is the first sentence, and 
 perhaps the only one, that really grated on her feelings ; 
 but the young lady got no more than she deserved ; she 
 was teUing fibs " at home, my lord." 
 
 The conversation should be divided into two parts j 
 in the first, Hamlet gives, according to the method of 
 his madness, the best possible advice, if she could only 
 have understood it ; the latter part is intended to deceive 
 the listeners, and Ophelia of course is not hurt at his 
 remarks, attributing them to his insanity ; but the king 
 was a Hamlet also, and not so easily outwitted ; • his 
 guilty conscience began to suspect that Hamlet's mind 
 was dwelling on his father's sudden death, and " I do 
 doubt the hatch, and the disclose will be some danger." 
 Had Hamlet addressed Ophelia in a jeering and offen- 
 sive manner, Polonius would certainly have remarked 
 upon it ; besides, the king said, " tho' it lacked form a 
 little, it was not like madness." And a few hours after, 
 at the play, he is very attentive, and quite sweet on 
 Ophelia : — 
 
 Sam. " No, good mother, here's metal more attractive. 
 Pol. Oho ! do you mark that ? " 
 
 Ophelia was also probably deceived by Hamlet's mimetic 
 art, " the feature of blown youth, blasted with ecstasy," 
 that is, of melancholia, with its vacant and abstracted 
 
64 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 look " lent on vacuity," as opposed to the ecstasy of 
 love : — 
 
 " He seem'd to find his way without his eyes ; 
 And, to the last, bended tlteir light on me." 
 
 The grand Anglo-Saxon character of Hamlet, with 
 its sensibilities and energies, is not to be understood by 
 reading his speeches thirty times over as Kemble did, 
 but by a cautious analysis, by comparing passage with 
 passage ; throughout this scene, Hamlet acts the melan- 
 cholic character admirably, meditative, self -accusing, and 
 suspicious. 
 
 Ham. " When he himself might his quietus make 
 With a bare bodkin." — 
 
 Act iii., scene 1. 
 
 Bodkin is said to be a small sword, and that Caesar was, 
 according to old writers, slain by bodkins; but Hamlet 
 is speaking slightingly of our tenure of life, " who would 
 bear such fardels, such a weary life, when it can so 
 easily be put an end to by a bodkin, by a little pin ; " — 
 a similar passage occurs in Richard II. : — 
 
 K. Rich. " For within the hollow crown. 
 
 That rounds the mortal temples of a king, 
 Keeps death his court : and there the antick sits. 
 Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp ; 
 Allowing him a breath, a little scene 
 To monarchize, be fear'd, and kill with looks ; 
 Infusing him with self and vain conceit, — 
 As if this flesh, which walls about our life. 
 Were brass impregnable, and, huraour'd thus. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 65 
 
 Comes at the last, and wit/t a little pin 
 Bores through his castle wall, and — farewell 
 king." — Act iii., scene 2. 
 
 The bare bodkin and the little pin should be taken 
 as evidence of Shakspere's anatomical knowledge. His 
 handwriting may also be adduced as evidence of his 
 medical profession^ at least that he had not been a 
 lawyer's clerk: — 
 
 Ham. " I sat me down ; 
 
 Devis'd a new commission ; wrote it fair ; 
 I once did hold it, as our statists do, 
 A baseness to write fair, and labour'd much 
 How to forget that learning." — Act v., scene 2. 
 
 The following passages have been quoted as illustra- 
 tive of irresolution and weakness in the character of 
 Hamlet : — 
 
 1. " But no more like my father 
 Than I to Hercules." 
 
 2. " The time is out of joint — cursed spite 
 That ever I was born to set it right." 
 
 3. Soliloquy after the dismissing the players, act ii. 
 
 4. " Now might I do it," &c., act iii., scene 3. 
 
 5. Soliloquy, act iv., scene 4. 
 
 6. " But thou would'st not think," &c., act v. 
 
 The three last passages have been aJreadyfullyexplained. 
 Schlegel says^ " But in the resolutions which he so often 
 embraceSj and always leaves unexecuted, the weakness 
 of his volition is evident : he does himself only justice 
 when he says, there is no greater dissimilarity than 
 between himself and Hercules." — Blackwood's Maga- 
 zine, vol. xxxvii. 
 
66 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Schlegel is not quite so sane as Hamlet, he confuses 
 self-accusations and reproaches with resolutions. 
 
 The germ of Goethe's estimate of Hamlet's character, 
 and of the leading idea which Shakspere intended to 
 convey, is contained in the following paragraph : — 
 
 " The time is out of joint ; cursed spite ! 
 That ever I was bom to set it right." 
 
 " In these words, I imagine, wiU. be found the key to 
 Hamlet's whole procedure. To me it is clear, that 
 Shakspere meant in the present case to represent the 
 eflFects of a great action laid upon a soul unfit for the 
 performance of it. In this view the whole piece seems 
 to me to be composed." 
 
 It is evident, Goethe, like Coleridge, has looked into 
 the depths of his own moral consciousness, and has mis- 
 taken his own image for Hamlet ; for Goethe had his 
 weak side, " he had only, therefore, to keep in abeyance 
 the native force of resolution, which gave him mastery, 
 and in that abeyance a weak, wavering character stood 
 before him, the original of which was himself." — Lewes' 
 Life of Goethe. 
 
 Let us now test Goethe's test : — 
 
 Sam. " Why what should be the fear ? 
 
 I do not set my life at a pin's fee ; 
 And, for my soul, what can it do to that. 
 Being a thing immortal as itself? " 
 
 So far he seems to have the soul of a hero, well fitted 
 for the performance of a great action ; but two or three 
 hours afterwards, when the excitement has subsided, 
 Shakspere, true to nature, puts into his mouth words 
 denoting exhaustion of body and mind ; and showing. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 67 
 
 if anything further^ not weakness, but exquisite sensi- 
 bility and tenderness. The passage, quoted by Groethe, 
 may be compared with the soliloquy in the fourth act, 
 and also with "how ill all's here about my heart." 
 These three passages occur at a period of depression 
 following violent, and, in two instances, long-continued 
 excitement. 
 
 With regard to the soliloquy at the end of the second 
 act, what is Hamlet's position ? he has just dismissed 
 the players, and also the two sponges, saying, with the 
 usual courtesy of society, " My good friends, I'll leave 
 you till night : you are welcome to Elsinore," 
 
 Ros. " Good my lord ! 
 
 Ram. Ay, so, God be wi' you." 
 
 merely meaning, good riddance of you; has he not just 
 discovered they are false friends, and did he not say, 
 " Nay, then I have an eye of you ; " he then breaks 
 out: — 
 
 " O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I ! " 
 
 uttered in a self-accusing, slightly accented tone ; having 
 now the opportunity of testing the king's conscience, he 
 believes for the moment, that his uncle is really guilty, 
 and gradually works himself into a violent passion. 
 
 But the first part of this speech is usually delivered 
 in a very different manner; — the reader or actor sits 
 down in an attitude of great exhaustion, and pulling out 
 the white handkerchief, covers his face in due theatrical 
 form; then in a low, depressed, and melancholy tone 
 he drawls out, " O, what a rogue and peasant slave am 
 I !" gradually working himself into a passion on getting 
 
68 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 to " Am I a coward ? who calls me villain ? " De gus- 
 tibus non disputandum, every man to his own fancy. 
 But as Hamlet makes his appearance in this scene 
 quizzing Polonius, and becomes moody and suspicious 
 on discovering his two friends to be spies, and on the 
 arrival of the players immediately conceives the idea of 
 testing his uncle's guilt, concealing or keeping down 
 his excitement by again jesting with Polonius, I should 
 suspectj that, on being left alone, he would be in a 
 bitter and scornful, rather than in a low, depressed, and 
 melancholy mood. 
 
 1 trust it has been clearly proved in the foregoing 
 pages, there are in Hamlet " no tokens of an unhinged 
 mind," no symptoms of an " aberration of intellect ; " 
 nor can the passage, — " I have of late, but [wherefore I 
 know not,] lost all my mirth, foregone all custom of 
 exercises," &c., be adduced as evidence of mental aliena- 
 tion. Had this scene, act second, scene second, occurred a 
 few days or \vithin a fortnight after his seeing the ghost, 
 we might suspect, especially as he has just been playing 
 the madman with Polonius, that Hamlet is simulating 
 the precursory symptoms of melancholia, the soliloquy 
 at the end being the paroxysm ; but as two months have 
 elapsed, such a suspicion is untenable, and he must con- 
 sequently be regarded as describing his actual condition. 
 It does not, however, follow, that his mind is diseased, 
 since similar symptoms occasionally accompany derange- 
 ment of the liver and digestive organs, and sorely test 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 6& 
 
 the doctor's judgment, whether brain or stomach be the 
 cause of this effect defective : — 
 
 " For this effect, defective, comes from cause." 
 
 But Shakspere, when he wrote the play, was in the 
 same state of mind as Hamlet ; of course he had not a 
 father murdered, a mother incestuously married, nor 
 had he seen a ghost ; yet still he was in a very similar 
 predicament. He was suffering under the pangs of a 
 rejected play ; he saw himself surpassed by Marlowe as 
 a tragic writer ; he saw his just and reasonable ambition 
 of becoming a distinguished dramatist passing from the 
 regions of reality into the semblance of an airy nothing- 
 ness; and he had quarrelled with two of his most 
 intimate friends. Let us compare his position with 
 Hamlet's : — 
 
 Hamlet. Shakspere. 
 
 A father murdered and in pur- A play damned, the author in 
 
 gatory. purgatory. 
 
 A mother's incestuous mar- Dead beat by Marlowe. 
 
 riage. 
 Has to kill his uncle. The chauce of two duels ob 
 
 his hands. 
 Has seen a ghost. Has seen the ghost of his 
 
 own ambition. 
 
 No wonder Shakspere, like Hamlet, has bad dreams, 
 and views the world with a jaundiced eye; and had this 
 play been damned, and followed the fate of Dido and 
 ^neas, Shakspere's own mind might have become un- 
 hinged, as Hamlet's is supposed to have been; there 
 would have been no Love's Labour's Lost, or at least 
 with the part of Biron omitted ; for the soundest intel- 
 
70 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 lect must be influenced by external circumstances as 
 well as by tbe state of its earthly tenement ; if wonder- 
 fully, so are we fearfully made. 
 
 Let us now examine the ghost; no mortal has 
 hitherto ever ventured to do so ; perhaps religious awe 
 forbids the summoning a spiritual being before a human 
 tribunal ; but is he really a spirit or only moonshine ? 
 in either case he declines answering the summons; so 
 the only way to get at him is for his Majesty to have 
 the Prince tried for the murder of Polonius. During 
 the trial it is brought out, the ghost was seen on three 
 successive nights, at the same hour and place, and in 
 armour; that the Prince cross-questioned Horatio 
 minutely about his being arm'd ; and was afterwards 
 overheard talking to himself, "my father's spirit in 
 arms ! all is not well ; I doubt some foul play." That 
 on the fourth night, the Prince, violently excited, 
 followed the ghost a short distance alone, and to his 
 friends, who soon afterwards joined him, he spoke " wild 
 and hurling words;" his own statement of what the 
 ghost had said, was adduced as corroborative evidence 
 against him ; for it was proved the ghost said nothing 
 on the first three nights, nor had the oflBcers heard 
 anything on the fourth night, excepting a sound like 
 " swear," which was proved to be the reverberation of a 
 " fellow in the cellarage," calling out " where is it," 
 meaning the coal-box. It was then ably ai'gued by the 
 counsel for the prosecution, that the ghost was a ghost- 
 story, all moohshine as usual ; what was the ghost then ? 
 simply, like the spectre of the Brocken, an image reflected 
 from the King's statue, which had just been erected at 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 71 
 
 the entrance to the Castle ; that the waving of the arm 
 was merely an undulation of the air; as the Prince 
 advanced towards the figure, it receded by a well-known 
 law in opticSj and when he stopped and said, he would 
 go no further, the figure politely stopped also. It was 
 then clearly and succinctly pointed out, that the speech 
 of the said ghost was merely the Prince's imagination, 
 his own thoughts ; for he is told literally nothing but 
 what he knew before, and the rest was a wretched 
 suspicion, based on a partial knowledge of the action 
 of drugs ; at this point the Prince was heard to mutter, 
 " the unkindest cut of aU ;" and the Court was startled 
 by a deep groan, when the learned counsel amidst an 
 audible applause, clenched the subject by observing, How 
 can a ghost speak, when he has no bodily or material 
 organs ? It was further proved, that in the Queen's 
 chamber the ghost was not visible to her, nor was it 
 armed, as shown by the Prince's remark, " in his habit 
 as he lived;" this was adduced as additional evidence, 
 that the ghost on the platform was merely a reflection 
 in the air; and it was further shown, that the said 
 ghost's speech in the chamber, was only an echo or 
 reflection of the Prince's own thoughts, of his own 
 speech : — 
 
 Ham. " Do you not come your tardy son to chide, 
 That, laps'd in time and passion, lets go by 
 The important acting of your dread command ? 
 0, say. 
 
 Ghost. Do not forget : This visitation 
 
 Is but to whet thy almost blunted purpose ;" 
 
 and the following lines of the ghost were merely the 
 
72 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 utterance of the Prince's own feelings on seeing his 
 mother looking amazed at him. 
 
 The verdict was, guilty of the death of Polonius, 
 with a recommendation to mercy as a monomaniac ; 
 and the Judge condemned him to transportation for life, 
 to the penal settlements in England, where his spirit 
 has ever since dwelt, not only mad himself, but the 
 cause of a literary lunacy among many others. All 
 concerned in the prosecution were handsomely rewarded, 
 and remained ever afterwards firm supporters of the 
 government; the learned Judge was for his valuable 
 services promoted by his Majesty to be Lord Chancellor, 
 and soon after stepped into the shoes of old Polonius. 
 
 We thus make the astounding discovery, that the 
 Danish Prince is a monomaniac, whilst Hamlet is 
 perfectly sane. The Prince, in consequence of the 
 sudden death of his father, and his mother's hasty 
 marriage, on hearing Horatio's account of his " father's 
 spirit in arms," immediately suspects " all is not right ;" 
 and 'on seeing what was probably a mere reflection in 
 the air, his heated imagination becomes excited to 
 phrensy, and under this excitement, the impression 
 remains on the retina, and he continues seeing the 
 supposed ghost in his mind's eye ; on the arrival of his 
 friends, the wild and hurling words denote a mind 
 already affected; with the cunning and half-conscious- 
 ness of his condition, he tells them not to be surprised, 
 should he "put an antick disposition on." It is thus 
 evident, Shakspere knew what a ghost was ; and it has 
 already been shown, the words of the ghost in the 
 Queen's chamber were merely the Prince's own 
 
OF SHAKSPERB. 7'3 
 
 thoughts; no woader his mother exclaimed, "poor 
 boy, alas, he's mad." But with regard to Hamlet, 
 the case is altered ; his ghost is a reality, which nobody 
 can deny ; unfortunately Shakspere has forgotten to tell 
 us how to call spirits from the vasty deep and make 
 them visible and audible j Hamlet therefore is perfectly 
 sane. We may then sum up, — the Danish Prince is a 
 monomaniac; but Hamlet himself is the healthy 
 Shakspere, not " a lame limb of the law," but 
 
 " An apothecary's apprentice, 
 The student of nature." 
 
 Postscript. — On making a careful examination of the 
 preceding analysis, we find the following important 
 passage, the address of Hamlet to Laertes, has by some 
 unaccountable oversight, been omitted : — 
 
 Ham. " Give me your pardon, sir ; I have done you wrong ; 
 But pardon 't, as you are a gentleman. 
 This presence knows, and you must needs have 
 
 heard. 
 How I am punish'd with a sore distraction. 
 What I have done, 
 
 That might your nature, honour, and exception, 
 Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness." — 
 Hamlet, act v., scene 3. 
 
 This passage has given great offence, under the 
 supposition Hamlet is uttering a deliberate falsehood, 
 " a direct lie" since he said in the first act, he should 
 feign madness, and actually did so, only an hour or 
 two ago, on leaving the churchyard; and in the chamber- 
 scene had solemnly assured his mother, he was only 
 " mad in craft;'' but, happily, this supposition of his 
 falsehood is altogether a misapprehension. 
 
74 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 The sea-voyage had effectually cleared Hamlet's biliary 
 system ; and he re- appears in this fifth act a wiser and 
 a sadder man. When he justifies himself to Horatio, 
 "is't not perfect conscience to quit him with this arm/' 
 he does so in a straightforward and rational manner, 
 without hinting a word about the ghost and the dread 
 command ; and, when he slays Claudius, there is not any 
 exhibition of the same fiend-like vindictiveness as in the 
 third act. His estimate also of Laertes' conduct, 
 
 " For by tlie image of my cause, I see 
 The portraiture of his," 
 
 differs widely from his treatment of Guildenstem and 
 E/Osencrantz ; in the one case he manifests a clear and 
 healthy judgment; but in his behaviour to his two 
 school-fellows, ^Aie precursory symptoms of an attack of 
 insanity are very apparent, — " distrustful of friends and 
 relatives, very fretful and irascible on slight occasions ; 
 subject to a kind of uneasiness, which he cannot describe 
 or account for," Essay on Insanity; and thus when 
 Hamlet says to Laertes, "What I have done, I here 
 proclaim was madness," he speaks the simple truth ; for 
 he is now conscious, that each appearance of the ghost 
 was a temporary hallucination, produced by the violent 
 excitement, under which at the moment he was labouring. 
 — There is no moral obliquity of vision in Shakspere, 
 " if then you do not like him, surely you are in some 
 manifest danger, not to understand him." 
 
 As Hamlet in the first four acts is influenced or" 
 governed by one predominant idea, a false impression, 
 an hallucination, he must consequently be insane, and 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 75 
 
 his feigned madness a real madness. His insanity is that 
 form of monomania^* which is combined with melan- 
 cholia and depression, and the poet has with admirable 
 skill and judgment shown the latter symptom following 
 each paroxysm of maniacal excitement j vide Hamlet's 
 speech at the end of the first act, and again in act fourth, 
 scene fourth. Consequently the omissions in the folio are 
 omissions of the players j this is very evident in Hamlet's 
 speech in the queen's chamber, where the passages are 
 omitted, the points of the daggers he would speak to his 
 mother, being at the time in a state of maniacal excite- 
 ment. The exclamation of Claudius, in act fourth, scene 
 third, " alas, alas !" can only be a hypocritical expression 
 of sympathy, and the omission of the passage is most 
 probably a slip of the compositor. 
 
 * Monomania, or partial insanity, is that form of mental derangement 
 in which there exists some prominent and fixed delusion, giving a tone 
 to the whole character, feelings, and conduct of the individual. It was 
 to this form of insanity that Locke's famous dictum especially applied, 
 when he said of madmen, that "they reasoned correctly on false 
 premises." 
 
 " The intellect, also, in the melancholic is usually clear and composed, 
 unable only to resist the morbid depression or the hopeless delusions 
 that spring from it and feed it." The3' are also very positive about their 
 sanity, asserting the same with the utmost precision and calmness of 
 manner; and though "an acutencss of wit belongs to most of the 
 varieties," yet the discursive faculty of reason is often affected; as 
 Hamlet says, — "Shall we to the court? for, by my fay, I cannot 
 reason ; " — but it is otherwise in the scene with Osric, in the fifth act, 
 which is probably intended as a contrast or counter-scene to this very 
 passage in act second, scene second ; in the one, Hamlet is unable to 
 carry on a chain of reasoning, — in the other, his mind is clear and col- 
 lected, notwithstanding his being so ill at heart . — 
 Hot. "His purse is empty already ; all his golden words are spent." 
 Sam. "Do but blow them to their trials, the bubbles are out." 
 
 Act v., scene 2. 
 
76 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 It should also be noted as evidence of Shakspere's 
 wonderful art, that the first appearance of the ghost is 
 not purely subjective, but has an objective cause ; and 
 again in the queen's chamber the ghost is preceded by 
 Hamlet's intense gaze at his father's picture, " in his 
 habit as he lived." We need not then be surprised at 
 his recovery under the kind and respectful attention of 
 the pirates, who love and reverence him as their prince, 
 together with the beneficial action of a sea-sickness, of 
 the sea-air, and ^solute rest from all excitement. 
 
 But the other parties on the platform do not labour 
 under an hallucination ; they saw a something, which in 
 their frightened imaginations and according to the 
 notions of those times they supposed to be a ghost; 
 theirs was merely an error of judgment ; and had the 
 matter been explained to them, they would more or less 
 readily, according to their faith in ghosts, have acknow- 
 ledged the same.* 
 
 It is scarcely credible, considering his other engage- 
 ments and studies, Shakspere could have applied himself 
 so diligently and earnestly, and have acquired during his 
 residence in London such a mastery over the theory and 
 practice of physic as is exhibited in Hamlet, unless he 
 had previously received some professional instruction. 
 
 * Although the ghost of Banquo is an hallucination, an image 
 purely subjective, yet Macbeth is not mad like Hamlet ; he quickly 
 recovers himself and recognizes it as the phantasm of his own guilty 
 soul: — "Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence!" As 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 77 
 
 According to Rowe, " it is without coatroversy, Shaks- 
 pere had no knowledge of the writings of the ancient 
 poets ; " Pope also speaks of him, as being without that 
 knowledge of the best models, the ancients, to inspire 
 him with an emulation of them ; and so it is echoed up 
 to the present day. Dr. Johnson observes, " whether 
 Shakspere knew the unities and rejected them by design, 
 or deviated from them by happy ignorance, it is, I think, 
 impossible to decide, and useless to inquire. We may 
 reasonably suppose, that when he rose to notice, he did 
 not want the counsels and admonitions of scholars and 
 critics ; and that he at last deliberately persisted in a 
 practice, which he might have begun by chance." 
 Perhaps it is not " so impossible to decide and useless 
 to inquire," as the learned lexicographer supposes 
 in this passage of lucky guesses; and although, like 
 Shakspere, I have but small Latin and less Greek, 
 still the story of Hamlet so strongly reminds one of the 
 story of the House of Atreus, I thought it advisable to 
 look into a translation of the Greek tragedies, and I find 
 myself amply repaid for the trouble. 
 
 When Nash accused him of stealing fromSeneca, Shaks- 
 pere must have chuckled and curled his lip with disdain, 
 knowing he had been poaching in a far more aristocratic 
 preserve; that he had been conning over the Orestes 
 and the masterpieces of the Greek drama; he found 
 them apparently " a little more than kin and less than 
 
 Hamlet is undeniably a monomaniac, all the learned disquisitions upon 
 him must henceforth be regarded as a poetical delusion; and his 
 critics have the delightful task of commencing a new series, sane 
 essays on an insane subject, the national drama of England. 
 
 e3 
 
78 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 kind," for he bagged but very little game; though 
 unmistakably Pylades lives again in Horatio. 
 
 Considering the circumstances and the situation of 
 the two parties, there is a strong analogy and resemblance 
 between Horatio's speech at the end of the first scene, 
 and the following extract from the commencement of 
 the Electro of Sophocles : — 
 
 Tutor. "Now therefore, O Orestes, and you, O Pylades, 
 dearest of friends, we must quickly deliberate what we ought to 
 do. Since already the bright beam of the sun is making audible 
 to us the morning song of the birds ; and the dark night of stars 
 has departed. Before then any man comes forth from his house 
 deliberate in counsel, since we are in a situation where it is no 
 longer time to hesitate, but the crisis requires action." 
 
 Hot. " So have I heard, and do in part believe it : 
 But see the sun in russet mantle clad, 
 Walks o'er the dew of yon high mountain top. 
 Break we our watch up, and by my advice. 
 Let us impart what we have seen to-night 
 Unto young Hamlet ; for upon my life 
 This Spirit dumb to us will speak to him : 
 Do you consent, we shall acquaint him with it. 
 As needful in our love, fitting our duty ? " 
 
 Ed. 1603. 
 
 •It appears to me, that it is to this line, " the bright 
 beam of the sun is making audible to us the morning 
 song of the birds," we owe the beautiful passage, "The 
 cock that is the trumpet to the morn," as well as " the 
 sun in russet mantle clad ; " and in the amended copy 
 the poet has judiciously altered sun into mom. 
 
 In the commencement of the Iphigenia in Aulis, 
 which is also a night scene, the following lines remind 
 us of Bernardo's statement : — 
 
OF SHAKSPEBE. 79 
 
 Agara. " What star is that 
 
 There sailing ? 
 
 AU. Sirius in his middle height 
 
 Near the sev'n Pleiads riding. 
 
 Jffam. Not the sound 
 
 Of birds is heard, nor of the sea ; the winds 
 Are hush'd in silence on the Euripus." 
 
 Iphigenia in Aulis. 
 
 Ber. " Have you had quiet guard? 
 
 Fran. Not a mouse stirring. 
 
 Bor. Well sit we down. 
 
 And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. 
 
 Ber. Last night of all. 
 
 When yon same star, that's westward from the pole. 
 Had made his course to illume that part of heaven 
 Where now it burns, Marcellus, and myself. 
 
 The bell then beating one " — 
 
 Hamlet, act i., scene 1. 
 
 However slight the resemblance and coincidence of 
 these passages may appear to the reader^ yet there 
 cannot be the least doubt the second scene in Hamlet 
 is a paraphrase of the "second scene" in the Electra 
 of Sophocles, between Electra and Chorus, as may 
 be judged by the following extracts ; Hamlet's expres- 
 sion " like Niobe,* all tears," is confirmation strong ; 
 Hamlet soliloquizes, so does Electra : — 
 
 Cho. " O Electra, child of a most wretched mother, how 
 unceasingly you are thus ever uttering lamentations for 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 Blec. But I do not wish to abandon this habit, so as not 
 to mourn for my miserable father. 
 
 Cho. But not at all either by lamentations or prayers will 
 you raise your father from the all-receiving gulf of Pluto ; but 
 proceeding from moderate to unreasonable grief, continually 
 
 * " Shakspere caught this idea from an ancient ballad." — Steevens. 
 
80 
 
 THE JFOOTSTEPS, 
 
 lamenting, you destroy yourself. Why do you love grief, as I 
 see you do, in which there is no relief from misfortune ? 
 
 Elec. miserable Niobe, but I consider you a goddess, 
 thou who in your tomb of stone ever weepest. 
 
 Cho. Grief has not appeared to you alone of mortals, O ray 
 child, in lamenting which you exceed those who are within, 
 from the same source with whom you are sprung and are akin 
 to them in family. 
 
 CJio. Beware of saying more. It is not right to quarrel 
 with the powerful so as to provoke them ; — Death is the natural 
 fate of all mortals." 
 and further onElectra says, that her mother thus" abuses 
 her: — 
 
 " O thou impious object of hatred, have you alone lost a 
 father, and is no other mortal in affliction." 
 
 and towards the end of the play Electra thus speaks to 
 the Tutor :— 
 
 " Hail, O father, for I think I see my father, hail, and know 
 that of all men I have most hated and most loved you in one 
 day." 
 
 The following extracts remind us of Hamlet's address 
 to his mother in her bed-chamber : — 
 
 Hilec. " A.nd when I see the crowning insult of all, the 
 murderer in my father's bed with my wretched mother, if I may 
 call her a mother who sleeps with him, but she is so shameless 
 that she cohabits with the polluter, fearing no fury, but as it 
 were triumphing in her deeds. Such speeches she howls out, 
 and being present at the same time, her illustrious bridegroom 
 excites her to the same course, that thorough coward, that 
 entire evil, he who fights his battles with the aid of women. 
 The following passages remind us of the ghost : — 
 
 " Like to the god perchance some demon spoke." 
 
 Electra of Euripides. 
 
 " Had these eyes seen my father, had I ask'd him 
 In duty if 1 ought to slay my mother. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 81 
 
 I think he would have pray'd me not to plunge 
 My murdering sword in her that gave me birth." 
 
 " Yet my soul 
 Was struck with horror, 'lest some vengeful power 
 Spake this, which I misdeem'd thy voice divine." — 
 
 Orestes. 
 
 The first line may have been merely a coincidence, 
 but the observation of Orestes, that his father would 
 have prayed him not to kill his mother, strongly im- 
 presses on us the opinion, Shakspere must have read 
 these two tragedies : — 
 
 Ghost. " But howsoever, let not thy heart 
 
 Conspire against thy mother aught, 
 
 Leave her to heaven. 
 
 And to the burthen that her conscience bears." 
 
 Ham. " My mother she has sent to speak mth me ; 
 
 God, let ne'er the heart of Nero enter 
 This soft bosom. 
 
 Let me be cruel, not unnatural. 
 
 1 -ivill speak daggers, those sharp words being spent. 
 To do her wrong my soul shall ne'er consent." — 
 
 Ed. 1603. 
 
 As Orestes praises his friend, so does Hamlet; the 
 parallel passages are too similar to be accidental : — 
 
 Orest. " Life hath no blessing like a prudent friend ; " 
 
 "But I forbear 
 Nor with intemperate praise thine ear offend." 
 
 Ham. " Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man," — 
 
 " Nay why should I flatter thee ? "—Ed. 1603. 
 
 Fi/lad. " Should'st thou but hope I would survive thy death." 
 
 Orest. " save thee for thy father, die not with me, 
 Thou hast a country. 
 
82 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Pylad. Together will I die witli thee anrl her." — 
 
 Oresks. 
 
 Hor. No, I am more an antike lloman, 
 
 Then a Dane, here is some poison left. 
 Ham. Upon m}' love I charge thee let it go." — Ed. 1603. 
 
 The scene also, where Hamlet questions Horatio about 
 the appearance of the ghost, is probably an imitation of 
 the dialogue between .^dipus and locasta about the 
 murder of Laius in JEdipus Tyrannus. 
 
 These extracts irresistibly prove, that Shakspere, be- 
 fore composing Hamlet, must have devoted much time 
 and thought to the study of the Greek drama. He was 
 certainly no profound Greek scholar, and aimed not at 
 being " an old-clothes philosopher ;" yet he looked, as 
 no man else ever did, into the very souls of the Greek 
 dramatists, face to face. That he read not only Sophocles 
 and Euripides, but ^schylus also, is beyond a doubt ; 
 for who is Ophelia, the virgin sacrificed to Diana ? who 
 is she, but the Iphigenia of jSlschylus, the meek, sub- 
 missive, sacrificial lamb ; surely we may say, and not 
 irreverently, such a wonderful re-creation is more nearly 
 allied to the spirit of God than to the genius of man : — 
 
 " Arm'd in a woman's cause, around 
 Fierce for the war the princes rose ; 
 No place affrighted pity found. 
 In yaiu the virgin's streaming tear, 
 Her cries in vain, her pleading pray'r, 
 
 Her agonizing woes. 
 Could the fond father hear unmov'd ? 
 The Fates decreed ; the king approv'd ; 
 Then to th' attendants gave command 
 Decent her flowing robes to bind ; 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 83 
 
 Prone on the altar with strong hand 
 To place her, like a spotless hind ; 
 And check her sweet voice, that no sound 
 Unhallow'd might the rites confound. 
 Eent on the earth her maiden veil she throws 
 That emulates the rose ; 
 And on the sad attendants rolling 
 The trembling lustre of her dewy eyes. 
 
 Their grief-impassion'd souls controlling, 
 That euTiohled, modest grace. 
 Which the mimic pencil tries 
 In the imag'd foi'm to trace, 
 
 The breathing picture shows ; 
 And as, amidst his festal pleasures. 
 
 Her father oft rejoic'd to hear 
 Her voice in soft mellifluous measures 
 
 Warble the sprightly fancied air ; 
 So now in act to speak the virgin stands : 
 But when, the third libation paid. 
 
 She heard her father's dread commands 
 Injoining silence, she obeyed; 
 
 And for her country's good, 
 With patient meek submissive mind 
 To her hard fate resigned, 
 Pour'd out the rich stream of her blood." — 
 
 The Agamemnon. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson says of Opheliaj " in her the feminine 
 character appears resolved into its very elementary 
 principles — modesty, grace, and tenderness;" and did 
 she not for two long months " with patient^ meek, sub- 
 missive mind " " repel his letters and deny his access to 
 her," as she promised her father, " I shall obey, mj' 
 lord." 
 
 But the tender and most tragic Euripides could not 
 conceive such a character ; he makes a \vretch«d mess 
 
84 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 of the affair by portraying Iphigenia as going, like an 
 Electra, triumphantly to the sacrifice, and then saves her 
 life at the altar. Aristotle knew better, old ^schylus 
 knew better, so did Shakspere, and so did Miss Bronte ; 
 her prim, starch, but plucky little governess, notwith- 
 standing the entreaties of her kind old father, is sacri- 
 ficed to the goddess Diana, her heart perishes with 
 JNIonsieur Paul in the storm. 
 
 But Goethe's Iphigenia, however beautiful as a 
 dramatic poem, is not a re-creation ; it is merely a 
 modern copy of the Iphigenia of Euripides, or rather a 
 christianised Electra ; for the foundation of each cha- 
 racter is based on a deep religious sense of duty. And 
 Goethe's opinion about Hamlet's weakness, " a great 
 action laid upon a soul unfit for the performance of it," 
 is far more applicable to Orestes,* nor is it inapplicable 
 to Agamemnon himself; the following lines correspond 
 remarkably with the passage quoted by Goethe : — 
 
 A(jam. " that this high honour 
 
 Some other had received not I." 
 " Distraction's in the thought, unhappy me. 
 My misery sinks me." 
 
 Iphigenia in. Aulis. 
 
 * Orestes in Mschylns, is undeniably mad ; but in Euripides his 
 
 madness is at least problematical. He appears to have had an attack 
 
 of remittent fever, and in the course of sis dajs wasted avpay to a 
 
 mere skeleton ; and afterwards he became subject to epileptic fits : — 
 
 Serdsman. "But his frenzy of its force 
 
 Abating, on the earth the stranger falls, 
 Foam bursting from his mouth." — 
 
 Iphigema in Tauris. 
 Possibly Euripides may also have been an apothecary's apprentice, 
 or at least a student in medicine ; Socrates, his intimate friend, is 
 eaid to liave been an accoucheur, though some pretend, he only 
 practised in cerebral midwifery, infants of the brain. 
 
or SHAKSPERE. 85 
 
 Ham. " The time is out of joint ; O cursed spite ! 
 
 That ever I was born to set it right." — Ed. 1603. 
 •Ores. " Like to the god perchance some demon spoke. 
 Elec. What, from the sacred tripod ! vain surmise. 
 Ores. Ne'er can my reason deem this answer just. 
 Ulec. Sink not unmann'd, to weak and timorous thoughts." 
 
 Blectra of Euripides. 
 
 It is astonishing with what amazing self-confidence 
 and originality this "Warwickshire lad measures himself 
 with the mightiest names of Greece, names at that time 
 held by all other men as gods, as something divine and 
 superhuman ; whatever he touches he turns to gold, or 
 purifies it through the fire of his own genius ; who but a 
 Shakspere could have translated the madness of Orestes 
 into the monomaniac and simulated madness of Hamlet ? 
 and who, but a poetical doctor, could have metempsy- 
 chosed Apollo into a ghost? "the god of poesie and 
 physicke ; " and such a ghost ! never in the most high 
 and palmy state of Greece did Apollo appear to mortal 
 eyes so like a god, so like a spirit of the other world. 
 
 Porson, in some remarks on the three great tragedians 
 of Greece, observes, that the language of Euripides 
 " pleases us by its natural simplicity and plainness, — 
 though sometimes it descends too much towards the 
 humble and ordinary style." " Sophocles, on the con- 
 trary, while he is anxious to avoid vulgar phraseology, 
 and plebeian modes of expression, is somewhat too prone 
 to indulge in forced metaphors, harsh inversions of lan- 
 guage, and other faults of that nature, which render his 
 verses, at times, too obscure to be pleasing." — Porson' s 
 Life by Watson, p. 108. 
 
 This passage is just as applicable to the later dramas 
 
86 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 of Shakspere as to the tragedies of Sophocles ; and as 
 Shakspere is said to have a greater affinity in his genius 
 to Sophocles, than to either of the other Greek dranA,- 
 tists, the question arises, is this similarity of style an 
 accidental resemhlance, or an imitation ? 
 
 As we occasionally meet with critical remarks, such 
 as, " there is something very Greekish in this," — " we 
 have here another instance of Shakspere's profound 
 knowledge of poetic story," — "the Greek dramatists,* 
 whose practice Shakspere follows in many things, 
 whether knowingly or unconsciously," — and as Macbeth 
 is said to have some analogy to the Electra of Sophocles 
 and to the Trilogy of ^schylus, it follows as the more 
 reasonable explanation, that Shakspere must have had 
 a far more intimate knowledge of the Greek language, 
 than the warmest supporters of his classical learning 
 have given him credit for. 
 
 Mr. Arraitage Brown jumped to the conclusion, that 
 Hamlet was written before the autumn of 1589, and is 
 supported therein by Mr. Knight ; but there are plaus- 
 ible grounds for this opinion, not noticed by these 
 gentlemen ; Shakspere must have been forcibly struck by 
 the extraordinary success of Tamburlaine and Fausius ; 
 and it seems as if the latter play gave rise to Hamlet ; 
 for who and what is he? Shakspere, meditating a new 
 tragedy, and looking out for a suitable subject, for- 
 tunately looked in, and found what he wanted, a philo- 
 sopher and a wit, Faustus and Mephistophiles in one. 
 Happily his philosophy and wit are always on the side 
 of religion and morality ; though these tendencies are 
 
 * Hartley Coleridge, in a note to Massinger, p. xxxviii. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 87 
 
 uot SO distinctly visible in the witty philosopher of 
 France, nor in the author of the German Faust. 
 
 We may then easily imagine, how Hamlet arose in 
 the poet's mind ; — he selects the story from Saxo Gram- 
 maticus as the sketch or outline of the play ; perceives 
 its resemblance to the old Greek story of Orestes, but un- 
 luckily he has no god at his command, the doctors having 
 rejected Apollo, and retained, as usual with mankind, 
 the worst part only, the snake as their emblem; he 
 meditates over his difificulties, " Ah there's the rub ! 
 about my brains ! ha ! ha ! the ghosf s the thing." So 
 he pours into the witches' cauldron nine Greek tragedies, 
 tumbles Faustus and Mephistophiles on the top of them, 
 and then, like Curtius for his country's good, plunges 
 over head and ears into the cauldron himself, and re- 
 appears as — Hamlet the Dane. 
 
 But he borrows not nature from these classical divini- 
 ties ; he returns to nature and himself, to Pericles ; for 
 is not Pericles Hamlet ? at least, " a piece of him " : — 
 
 " If thou livest, Pericles, thou hast a heart 
 That even cracks for woe." 
 As both Potter and Francklin, in their translations, 
 adopt the very phrases used in Hamlet, it is curious if 
 they never suspected Shakspere may have read these 
 tragedies; it shows very clearly, how injurious, how 
 benumbing to the mind, are prejudices and preconceived 
 opinions. 
 
 It may be reasonably inferred from the words of 
 Marcellus : — 
 
88 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 " And why sucli daily cast of brazen cannon, 
 And foreign mart for implements of war : 
 Why such impress of shipwrights," 
 
 tljat Hamlet was composed during the summer of 1588, 
 and was brought out in the winter season some weeks 
 before Christmas. I have previously shown that Shaks- 
 pere must have gone to London in 1585, taking up to 
 town with him Pericles, a modest, amiable young man ; 
 the success of this play encouraged him, gave him more 
 swing and confidence, so that he speaks out more freely 
 and boldly, and manifests himself more openly in 
 Valentine. We may then suppose he brought out 
 Pericles in 1585, Valentine in the spring of 1586, and 
 Titus Andronicus the following Christmas ; and in the 
 spring of 1587, as I shall hereafter show. All's Well that 
 Ends Well. About the same period Marlowe produced 
 Tamburlaine, say, both parts in 1586 ; Faustus is con- 
 sidered to have appeared in 1588, and probably as early 
 as December, '87; Shakspere, constantly studying the 
 principles of his art, and struck with the great popularity 
 of Tamburlaine, brings forth, not as a vulgar imitator, 
 but as a young artist. Dido and JEneas at Christmas, 
 1587. We may imagine what must have been his feel- 
 ings; how galled and wounded, how disgusted with 
 himself and with the world ! He, conscious of his own 
 superiority as a poet, finds himself a successful comic 
 writer, but has failed in his highest ambition, in tragedy; 
 whilst Marlowe has written three tragedies, each a 
 popular favourite, and the last far superior to the two 
 parts of Tamburlaine. There can be little doubt Mar- 
 lowe at this moment was in the public opinion [though 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 89 
 
 certainly not by the judicious few] regarded as the 
 greater genius of the two. 
 
 Hamlet, howeverj was more than successful ; it created 
 a tremendous sensation, and took London by storm. 
 Then Shakspere, flushed with his triumph, poured forth 
 the rejoicings of his soul in Love's Labour's Lost ; no 
 longer did "this brave o'er-hanging — this majestical 
 roof fretted with golden fire, appear no other thing to 
 him than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours ; " 
 all nature laughed around him ; he had vanquished his 
 enemies, and, hurling the giants down, he seated himself 
 on the dramatic throne, as on a rock environed by the 
 sea, smiling at the multitudinous waves of barbarism 
 roaring around him ; and Biron was the expression of 
 his exultant feelings. 
 
 Hamlet and Biron must, then, be regarded as the 
 same person ; " the clouds hang on " the one, and the 
 other is " too much i' the sun j " " the gibing spirit " is 
 strong in Hamlet, and had the joyous-hearted and 
 chivalrous Biron seen the ghost of a murdered father, 
 and his mother been guilty of an incestuous marriage, 
 he too, "the wit, poet, and philosopher," would have 
 been as melancholy, contemplative, and decisive, as 
 Hamlet ; like him, he soliloquizes, and is the main cha- 
 racter, the master-spirit in the play ; it is the same man 
 under different circumstances: — 
 
 " The courtier's, scholar's, soldier's eye, tongue, sword : 
 The expectancy and rose of the fair state. 
 The glass of fashion, and the mould of form. 
 The observ'd of all observers ! " 
 
 Is not that the character of Biron, and was it not the 
 
90 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 character of Hamlet previous to his father's death ? Had 
 Goethe known the connecting link between these two 
 plays, he would have saved himself the trouble of specu- 
 lating about Hamlet's natural character. There cannot 
 be the slightest doubt, the lecture of Rosaline is an 
 honest confession of one of Shakspere's own failings, 
 too fond of jesting, a fault which he felt quite unquali- 
 fied him for success in the medical trade, and so, like a 
 sensible man, he cut it, that is, the trade. 
 
 In the supplementary notice to the Two Gentlemen of 
 Verona, Pictorial Shakspere, we read : " In the first 
 scene he (Valentine) laughs at the passion of Proteus, as 
 if he knew that it was alien to his nature ; but when he 
 has become enamoured himself, with what enthusiasm 
 he proclaims his devotion : — 
 
 " Why man she is mine own ; 
 And I as rich in having such a jewel 
 As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl." 
 
 " In this passionate admiration we have the germ of 
 Romeo, and so also in the scene where Valentine is 
 banished : — 
 
 ' And why not death, rather than living torment.' 
 
 " We are not wandering from our purpose of contrast- 
 ing Proteus and Valentine, by showing that the character 
 of Valentine is compounded of some of the elements that 
 we find in Romeo." 
 
 But Biron is also a similar character, compounded of 
 the same elements ; with what enthusiasm he proclaims 
 his devotion : — 
 
 " Who sees the heavenly Rosaline, 
 That, like a rude and savage man of Inde, 
 
OF SHAKSPEEE. , 91 
 
 At the first opening of the gorgeous east. 
 Bows not his vassal head ; and, strucken blind. 
 Kisses the base ground with obedient breast ? " 
 
 They are three brothers, or rather three manifestations 
 of the same spirit re-appearing at different periods, and 
 under different circumstances. Coleridge thus speaks 
 of Biron's celebrated speech : — " It is logic clothed in 
 rhetoric ; — but observe how Shakspere, in his two-fold 
 being of poet and philosopher, avails himself of it to 
 convey profound truths in the most lively images, — the 
 whole remaining faithful to the character supposed to 
 utter the lines, and the expressions themselves consti- 
 tuting a further development ol that character." 
 
 But Biron is not '• the germ,'' " the pre-existent state " 
 of Benedick, the type of all that is elegant and fascina- 
 ting ; nor Rosaline of Beatrice ; Biron is a far higher 
 and loftier character; Benedick may be, as Horatio 
 would say, " a piece of him ; " he yfss, played upon ; but 
 had any one attempted to play upon Biron, they would 
 have caught a Tartar ; no one ever succeeded in that 
 game, save and except one man. 
 
 In the wit-combats at the Mermaid between Shaks- 
 pere and Jonson, Ben had very little chance with his 
 opponent, who was " an old sworder " at the game, and 
 had in his younger days played at the cudgels with a far 
 more formidable competitor. I allude to the wit-com- 
 bats between Shakspere and Lyly at the Mitre, where 
 the gentle Willy met his match ; the combatants were 
 
93 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 thoroughly good-humoured, for each could take as well 
 as give. Nobody rejoiced more in the success of Hamlet 
 than John Lyly ; and he had shown his love and esteem 
 for Shakspere on a former occasion in a most marked 
 and flattering manner. 
 
 In the comedy of Endymion, Cynthia is supposed to 
 represent Queen Elizabeth, and no doubt her gracious 
 majesty appropriated to herself all the compliments, as 
 the courtly poet intended. But under this superficial 
 allegory was concealed a far more beautiful and poetical 
 one. Endymion is the youthful poet, in love with Tellus, 
 or nature, but loving, worshipping in a far higher degree 
 Cynthia, the poetry of nature ; for of poetry, as of the 
 moon or Cynthia, it may be said, the form is ever 
 changing, but the spirit is the same. Is then Endymion 
 himself merely a poetical conception, a poet's dream, or 
 a living reality ? His friend Eumenides is unmistakably 
 John Lyly, the satirical wit : — 
 
 Oynth. "Endymion you must now tell who Eumenides 
 
 shrineth for his saint. 
 Semele, Madame. 
 Semele, Eumenides ? is it Semele ? the very wasp 
 
 of all women, whose tongue stingetU as much as 
 
 an adder's tooth ? 
 It is Semele, Cynthia ; the possession of whose love 
 
 must only prolong my Hfe." — Act v., scene 3. 
 
 That Shakspere is Endymion may be deduced from 
 the following circumstances : — In the opening of the 
 comedy, Endymion says, " my thoughts, Eumenides, are 
 stitched to the stars, which being as high as I can see, 
 thou maist imagine, how much higher they are than 1 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 93 
 
 can reach." This passage is an allusion to the line in 
 the Two Gentlemen of Verona : — 
 
 " Wilt thou reach stars, because they shine on thee ;" 
 ■which line agaia was in fact a complimentary quotation 
 from Campaspe, where Apelles saySj " stars are to be 
 looked, not reach'd at." 
 Again in Endymion : — 
 
 Epi. " Why, you know it is said, the tide tarrieth no man. 
 Sam. True. 
 
 Epi. A monstrous lie, for I was tied two hours, and tarried 
 for one to unlose me.'' 
 
 The expression, " you know it is said," is evidently an 
 acknowledgment, a direct complimentary reference to 
 a well-known and humourous scene in a popular 
 comedy : — 
 
 Pan. " Away, ass ; you wiU lose the tide, if you tarry any 
 
 longer. 
 Launce. It is no matter if the tied were lost ; for it is the 
 
 unkindest tied, that ever man tied. 
 Pan. What's the unkindest tide ? 
 Launce. Why, he that's tied here. Crab, my dog." — 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, act ii., scene 3. 
 
 These two allusions, the stars and the pun, clearly point 
 at Shakspere as being the youthful poet Endymion ; 
 but since it is generally supposed Shakspere borrowed 
 the pun as well as the stars, let us examine into the 
 dates of these three plays ; Campaspe was published in 
 1584, the Two Gentlemen of Verona was most probably 
 written in 1586, and Endymion in 1587; for in act 
 third, scene fourth, Eumenides soliloquizes, " how secret 
 hast thou been these seven years ? " now Euphues was 
 published in 1580 j and again, Endymion says, "re- 
 
94 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 membering my solitary jlife almost these seven years, 
 whom have I entertained but mine own thoughts and 
 thy virtues ? " Shakspere at this time was in his twenty- 
 fourth year, so that his consciousness of poetical inspi- 
 ration as being a votary of the Muses dates from his 
 seventeenth year, not an unreasonable supposition. 
 
 Having thus from internal evidence established the 
 date of the play, and that Endymion and Eumenides are 
 Shakspere and Lyly, we can readily understand the 
 whole drift of the allegory ; at the instigation of Tellus, 
 Endymion is thrown into a deep sleep by the enchantress 
 Dipsas, and is re-awakened by a kiss from Cynthia ; or 
 in other words, Shakspere, having written two plays 
 full of poetry and nature, falls lasleep under the hands 
 of the goddess of dulness, or bad taste, and writes Titus 
 Andronicus, a tale of horrors ; Ms poetical genius soon 
 after pricks his conscience, he awakens and perceives the 
 error he has committed. 
 
 Side by side, and parallel with Endymion, runs the 
 character of Sir Tophas, the bragging soldier, with Epi 
 his page, a most ridiculous and amusing caricature of 
 Marlowe ; the dulness of the wit is intentional on the 
 author's part and in character : — 
 
 Epi. " Nothing hath made my master a fool but flat scholar- 
 ship." 
 
 " lepidttm caput, madcap master ! you were worthy 
 to win Dipsas, were she as old again, for in your love you 
 have worn the nap of your wit quite off aud made it thread- 
 bare." — Act v., scene 2. 
 
 Top. " Why fool, a poet is as much as one should say, a 
 poet. But soft, yonder be two wrens, shall I shoot at them ? 
 
 Epi. They are two lads. 
 
OF SHAKSPEaB. 95 
 
 Top. Larks or wrens, I will kill them, 
 Epi. Larks ? are you blind ? they are two little boys. 
 Bar. Why, Sir Tophas, have you forgotten your old friends ? 
 
 Act i., seene 3. 
 
 These two larks or wrens are of course the two parts 
 of Tamburlaine, otherwise the whole passage is merely 
 silly, childish nonsense ; to add to the humour, the two 
 little boys are pages to Endymion and Eumenides. 
 Like Endymion, Sir Tophas falls in love, but with 
 Dipsas, and has an absurd dream of an owl [with the 
 face of Dipsas] the bird of wisdom, for Marlowe was a 
 learned man : — 
 
 Top. " Learned ? I am all Mars and Ars. 
 
 Sam. Nay, you are all mass and ass. 
 
 Top. Mock you me? you shall both suffer, yet with such 
 weapons, as you shall make choice of the weapon, wherewith 
 you shall perish. Am I all a mass or lump, is there no 
 proportion in me ? am I all ass ? is there no wit in me ? Epi, 
 prepare them to the slaughter. 
 
 Sam. I pray, sir, hear us speak ? we call you mass, which 
 your learning doth well understand is all man, for Mas maris 
 is a man. Then As [as you know] is a weight, and we for 
 your virtues account you a weight. 
 
 Top. The Latin hath saved your lives." — Act i., scene 3. 
 
 The following passage is evidently a caricature of 
 Tamburlaine's love for Zenocrate ; — on hearing of Dipsas 
 being married. Sir Tophas meditates suicide: — 
 
 Top. " heavens, an husband ? What death is agreeable to 
 my fortune? 
 
 Sam. Be not desperate, and we will help you to find a 
 young lady. 
 
 Top. I love no grissels they are so brittle, they will crack 
 like glass, or so dainty, that if they be touched, they are 
 
OG THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 straight of the fashion of wax; animus majoriius instat. 
 I desire old matrons. What a sight would it be to embrace 
 one whose hair were as orient as the pearl ! whose teeth shall 
 be so pure a watchet, that they shall stain the truest turkis ! 
 whose nose shall throw more beams from it than the fiery 
 carbuncle ! whose eyes shall be environed about with redness 
 exceeding the deepest coral ! And whose lips might compare 
 with silver for the paleness ! Such a one if you can help me 
 to, I win by piece-meal cuxtal my affections towards Dipms, 
 and walk my swelling thoughts 'till they be cold." 
 
 Tamb. " Zenocrate, lovelier than the love of Jove, 
 Brighter than is the sUver Rhodope, 
 Fairer than whitest snow on Scythian hiUs." 
 " Zenocrate the loveliest maid alive, 
 Fairer than rocks of pearl and precious stone. 
 The only paragon of Tamburlaine. 
 Whose eyes are brighter than the lamps of heaven. 
 And speech more pleasant than sweet harmony ; 
 That with thy looks can'st clear the darken'd sky. 
 And calm the rage of thundering Jupiter." 
 
 Sir Tophas must also, like Endymion, fall into a deep 
 sleep. 
 
 But Endymion is very differently handled from Sir 
 Tophas; in the concluding, as well as in the earlier 
 scenes, the reality vividly and distinctly pierces through 
 the allegorical covering; in describing his dream to 
 Cynthia, Endymion says, "After long debating with 
 herself, mercy overcame anger ; and there appeared in 
 her heavenly face such a divine majesty, mingled with a 
 sweet mildness, that I was ravished with the sight above 
 measure, and wished that I might have enjoyed the 
 sight without end ; and so she (Tellus) departed with 
 the other ladies, of which the one (Dipsas) retained still 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 97 
 
 an unmoveable cruelty, the other (Floscula) a constant 
 pity ;" and Cynthia, further on, observes : — 
 
 " Endymion, continue as thou hast begun, and thou shalt 
 find, that Cynthia shineth not on thee in vain. 
 
 Tkd. Your Highness hath blessed me, and your words 
 have again restored my youth : methinks I feel my joints 
 strong, and these mouldy hairs to molt, and all by your virtue, 
 Cynthia, into whose hands the balance that weigheth time and 
 fortune are committed, 
 
 Cyntli. What, young again? then it is pity to punish 
 Tellus. 
 
 Tellus. Ah, Endymion ; now I know thee and ask pardon 
 of thee ; suffer me still to wish thee well." 
 
 Corsites, " a thirsty soul," who is appointed guardian 
 of Tellus, is probably intended for Greene, who of all 
 the giants was, perhaps, the least removed from nature. 
 "No more than five dramas, the undoubted works of 
 Greene have come down to posterity." He himself says 
 in 1588, that he still maintains his " old course to palter 
 up something in prose;" and it is to this double qualifi- 
 cation, prose and poetry, that the following observations 
 apply:— 
 
 Cor. " Shall she work stories or poetries ? 
 Cyntli. Could you not stir Endymion with that doubled 
 strength of yours ?" 
 
 Tellus says, "I marvel Corsites giveth me so much 
 liberty ; all the world knowing his charge to be so high, 
 and his nature to be most strange; who hath so ill- 
 intreated ladies of great honour, that he hath not suf- 
 fered them to look out of windows, much less to walk 
 abroad; it may be, he is in love with me." 
 
 It appears Greene treated the ladies rather ungallantly 
 
98 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 in his plays and novels ; and Nash in his Anatomie of 
 Absurditie, 1589^ ends one of his paragraphs thus: — 
 " Therefore, see how far they swerve from their purpose^ 
 who with Greene colours seek to garnish such Gorgon- 
 like shapes." 
 
 Chettle says of Greene, "His hair was somewhat 
 long ;" and Harvey speaks of " his fond disguising of a 
 Master of Art with ruffianly hair ;" and Nash informs 
 us, that " a jolly long red peake, like the spire of a 
 steeple, he (Greene) cherisht continually without cutting, 
 whereat a man might hang a jewel, it was so sharp and 
 pendant." 
 
 We may now understand the following allusion : — 
 
 Cyntli. " But whom have we here, — is it not Corsites ? 
 
 Zon. It is ; but more like a leopard than a man. 
 
 Oyntli. Awake him. How now, Corsites, — what make yoa 
 here ? How came you deformed ? Look on thy hands, and 
 then thou seest the picture of thy face." 
 
 Greene, in the epistle prefixed to Perimedes, 1588, 
 says, he had been " had in derision by two gentlemen 
 poets, &c. ; I but answer in print what they have offered 
 on the stage." 
 
 The two allusions in this comedy about the stars and 
 the pun, should induce us to make a closer inspection of 
 the Two Gentlemen of Verona ; and then the supposition 
 arises, that Panthino may be Lyly ; for he is a scholar 
 and a punster, probably his lordship's secretary, but 
 certainly not a mere servant. 
 
 From the examination of these two comedies, Endy- 
 mion and the Two Gentlemen of Verona, it may be sur- 
 mised, these two playwrights were intimate friends, and 
 
OP SHAKSPERE. 99 
 
 that Lyly felt flattered by the compliment Shakspere 
 paid him in quoting the line from Campaspe, and apply- 
 ing it so beautifully and so appropriately. On reviewing 
 Endymion it strikes us also as something extraordinary^ 
 that Lyly should have advanced so far beyond the idea 
 of all his contemporaries in analysing so accurately and 
 poetically in 1587, the genius of Shakspere; this, perhaps, 
 can only be accoimted for on the supposition, that Shaks- 
 pere in frequent conversations had laid open his heart to 
 the inspection of his elder friend, freely exposing to him 
 his innermost thoughts and aspirations; — no wonder 
 Lyly was ravished with the sight, and worshipped that 
 beautiful soul, that Psyche, the Warwickshire butterfly; 
 a soul so difiierent from Marlowe's, the book-worm, the 
 moth. 
 
 On looking into Pericles we find this conjecture cor- 
 roborated in a singular manner ; for the whole play may 
 be justly regarded as a hymn of praise to the goddess 
 Diana or Cynthia, with an allusion to Tellus, — " Marina. 
 No, no ! I will rob Tellus of her weeds, to strew the 
 green with flowers ;" so that it contains the principal 
 points of the allegory itself; and it is worthy of remark, 
 this is the only allusion to Tellus in the whole Shaks- 
 perian drama, except in Hamlet, ed. 1604, " Tellus orbed 
 ground." 
 
 In 1587, the same year in which Endymion was 
 written, Nash in his epistles prefixed to Greene's Mena- 
 phon, thus writes: — "Idiot art-masters, that intrude 
 
100 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 themselves to our ears as the alchymists of eloquence, 
 who (mounted on the stage of arrogance) think to out- 
 brave better pens with the swelling bombast of bragging 
 blank-verse." Hence it has been inferred, Greene must 
 have been jealous of the success of Tamburlaine ; but 
 Lyly could not have been so affected; and the dry old 
 humourist was just the man, like a bright particular 
 star, to see through such a comet ; and the exceedingly 
 severe, the open and unconcealed ridicule of Marlowe 
 as Sir Tophas, leads to the suspicion, there must have 
 been a quarrel between them. This suspicion rises into 
 certainty on examining All's Well that Ends Well, which 
 must have been written about this time ; not only is it 
 acknowledged to be one of Shakspere's earlier plays, but 
 the opening so strongly reminds us of Hamlet, that it 
 may reasonably be conjectured to have been written in 
 the preceding year. The remarks of the Countess to 
 Helena and to Bertram, remind us of the king's words 
 to Hamlet, and of Polonius' advice to his son ; Helena's 
 reply and soliloquy are in spirit identical with Hamlet's ; 
 there is in both scenes the same misapprehension, which 
 is cleared up to the audience by the soliloquy ; Helena 
 weeps not for her father's death, but for Bertram's de- 
 parture } and Hamlet's melancholy is caused, not by his 
 father's death, but by his beloved mother's sinful mar- 
 riagCj that such an angel should have fallen : — 
 
 Hel. " 0, were that all ! — I think not on my father ; 
 
 And these great tears grace his remembrance more 
 Than those I shed for him. What was he like ? 
 I have forgot him : my imagination 
 Carries no favour in it, but Bertrams." 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 101 
 
 In this comedy there cannot be a doubt ParoUes is a 
 Shaksperian portrait of Marlowe : — 
 
 Sel. " I know him a notorious liar, 
 Think him a great way fool, solely a coward. 
 
 Sel. Monsieur ParoUes, you were bom under a charitable 
 star. 
 
 Par. Under Mars, I." 
 
 He is also learned, " he hath a smack of all neigh- 
 bouring languages ;" like Sir Tophas, he is " all Mars 
 and Ars ;" Mr. Knight observes, " ParoUes, from several 
 passages, appears to have been intended for a great cox- 
 comb in dress ; to the insults of Lafeu the boaster has 
 nothing to oppose, — neither wit nor courage." How 
 well does all this coincide with what is really known of 
 Marlowe. Nash calls him idiot art-master,' full of arro- 
 gance ; the Reverend Mr. Dyce represents him as irre- 
 ligious, intemperate, with not even a moderate talent for 
 the humourous : — 
 
 " Now strutting in a silken sute, 
 Then begging by the way." 
 
 Lord Lafeu must be regarded as a portrait of Lyly ; 
 besides genuine goodness of heart, he has also the caustic 
 humour of Semele's lover ; this opinion is strengthened 
 by the expression, " he (ParoUes) was first smoked by 
 the old Lord Lafeu." 
 
 Let us now return to Lyly; besides Endymion he 
 wrote three other comedies, evidently allegorical, Sapho 
 
103 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 and Phao, and Campaspe, both published in 1584, and 
 Gallathea in 1592. 
 
 In Sapho and Phao the courtly poet has depicted the 
 loves of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Anjpu ; the 
 great difficulty with respect to this comedy is to decide, 
 whether Hume copied Lyly, or Lyly, Hume ; the only 
 difference being, the one writes dramatically, the other 
 historically. Hume says, "These reflections kept the 
 Queen in great anxiety and irresolution j and she was 
 observed to pass several nights without any sleep or 
 repose. Soon after, he went over to his government of 
 the Netherlands ; lost the confidence of the states by a 
 rash and violent attempt on their liberties ; was expelled 
 that country ; retired into France, and there died : — 
 
 Syhilla. "Do so, Phao; for destiny calleth tliee as well 
 from Sicilj' as from love. Other things hang over thy head, 
 which I must neither tell, nor thou enquire. And so fare- 
 weU." 
 
 The French Prince visited England in 1581, and died 
 the same year as the comedy was published in 1584. 
 In this comedy, Pandion has about him evident marks 
 of the author, John Lyly ; and the name reminds us of 
 Panthino in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, originally 
 spelt Panthion ; like Semele in Endymion, his lady-love 
 is rather waspish; he comes from Athens to Syracuse, 
 as Lyly to London from Oxford. 
 
 In the comedy of Campaspe Queen Elizabeth might 
 view her own virtues reflected in the chastity and war- 
 like courage of Alexander. The loves of Apelles and 
 Campaspe are probably an allusion to the marriage of 
 the Earl of Leicester with the Countess of Essex. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 103 
 
 In Gallathea, a virgin is sacrificed every five years to 
 appease the wrath of Neptune ; but at last the god, out 
 of respect for Diana, (Queen Elizabeth), relents, and frees 
 the land from the sea-monster, the Agar, by dispersing 
 the Invincible Armada. The two pretty girls, Gallathea 
 and Phillida, dressed as boys to escape being sacrificed, 
 represent England and Scotland armed to resist the 
 Spanish invasion; and their falling in love with one 
 another and wishing to be married, must be an allusion 
 to the probable union of the two countries under King 
 James. This explanation of the allegory is strenghtened 
 by the reference, twice repeated, to the annus mirabilis, 
 '88. Thus it may be presumed, the comedy in its 
 present form was produced about Christmas, 1588. 
 
 Let us . now proceed and examine Love's Labour's 
 Lost, in which Shakspere is supposed to satirize Euphu- 
 ism in the character of Don Armado ; and to have had 
 particular individuals in view in the characters of Holo- 
 f ernes and Boyet. The curate. Sir Nathaniel, is probably 
 intended for Lyly ; the noting down in his tables, " a 
 most singular and choice epithet," may have been a 
 habit of Lyly's, for his comedies read like compositions, 
 as if much of the wit had been collected and jotted 
 down at intervals j they have not generally the easy 
 flow and lightsome play of Shakspere's comedy. 
 
 " For this production. Love's Labour's Lost, Shakspere, 
 it is presumed^ found neither characters nor plot in any 
 previous romance or drama ; ■" but as he must have been 
 
104 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 as well acquainted with the comedy of Endymion as with 
 Eiiphues, we may suspect Sir Tophas and Epi are the 
 buds, which blossomed under the enchanter's wand into 
 "the refined traveller of Spain" and that inimitable 
 monkey. Moth; and the love of Don Armado for 
 Jaquenetta, reminding us of the marriage of Sir Tophas 
 with Dipsas' servant-maid Bagoa, raises the suspicion 
 he is another variation, a flattering likeness of that un- 
 fortunate wight, Marlowe; who, if not, like Falstaff, 
 witty himself, is at least the cause of much wit and 
 humour in those two wags, our pleasant WiUy and the 
 Oxford Fiddlestick : 
 
 Scint. " You will be a good one if you live ; but what is 
 yonder formal fellow ? 
 
 Bar. Sir Tophas, Sir Tophas, of whom we told you ; if 
 you be good wenches, make as though you love him, and 
 wonder at him. 
 
 Favil. We will do our parts. 
 
 Bar. But first let us stand aside, and let him use his 
 garb, for all consisteth in his gracing. 
 
 Favil. This passeth ! 
 
 Scint. Why, is he not mad ? 
 
 Sam. No, but a little vain-glorious." 
 
 Bndymion, act ii., scene 3. 
 
 How closely does this agree with the description of 
 Armado by Costard : — 
 
 " Armado o' the one side, — O, a most dainty man ! 
 To see him walk before a lady, and to bear her fan ; 
 To see him kiss his hand ! and how most sweetly a'will swear!" 
 
 The King calls him " a man of complements," a for- 
 malist ; and Holofernes thus describes him : — " His 
 humour is lofty, his discourse peremptory, his tongue 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 105 
 
 filed, his eye ambitious, his gait majestical, and his 
 general behaviour vain, ridiculous, and thrasonical. He 
 is too picked, too spruce, too affected, too odd, as it 
 were, too peregrinate, as I may call it. He draweth out 
 the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his 
 argument." These words may be regarded as Shaks- 
 pere's deliberate judgment on Marlowe, delivered at 
 Christmas, 1597. In the scene where Armado appears 
 " armed for Hector,'' the allusions are very character- 
 istic, — " The armipotent Mars, of lances the almighty," 
 and 
 
 " Dos't thou infamomize me among potentates ? 
 Thou shalt die," 
 
 recalls to us the observation of Sir Tophas, " Epi, prepare 
 them to the slaughter." 
 
 The lords concealing themselves after repeating their 
 sonnets, is probably a hint taken from Diana's nymphs 
 in Gallathea, act third, scene first. 
 
 But Shakspere, by making in the gaiety of his heart 
 an inpious onslaught on the divinity of Euphuism, and 
 indulging also in a Bironical jest at Sir Nathaniel the 
 curate, as Alisander, drew down upon himself the good 
 humoured wrath of his old friend, who quickly gave him 
 a Roland for his Oliver, by capping him with the ears of 
 an ass as Midas. In this comedy there cannot be a 
 doubt, " our pleasant Willy, the divine Williams," is 
 the king "with asses ears." Midas is a great king and 
 conqueror ; he entertains Bacchus, and over their cups 
 
 r2 
 
106 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 he utters a foolish wish, that every thing he touches 
 may turn to gold ; this wish Bacchus grants him, re- 
 marking at the same time he'll repent of it ; he does so, 
 and is freed from the consequences by bathing in the 
 Pactolus J on his return from the river, passing through 
 a wood, he is appointed judge in a musical contest, and 
 gives the prize to Pan against Apollo ; the god, irate 
 with his folly, gives him the ears of an ass ; the king in 
 penitence goes to Greece, and offers up sacrifice at the 
 shrine of Apollo, who releases him from his punishment. 
 What an accurate and beautiful allegory is this of 
 Shakspere's career up to 1589. He goes to London in 
 1585, is the successful author of Pericles and the Two 
 Gentlemen of Verona ; studies Latin literature, associates 
 with the Bacchanals, and writes Tittis Andronicus in 
 their false and gilded style, plated with Latin; he 
 washes out his errors in the beautiful comedy of All's 
 Well that Ends Well. Again, seized with the desire of 
 distinguishing himself in tragedy, and struck with the 
 success of Tamburlaine, he mistakes Pan [Marlowe] for 
 Apollo, and writes himself an ass in Dido and jEneas ; 
 sees his error, repents, studies the Greek dramatists, and 
 Hamlet is the successful result. 
 
 This allegory is so transparent, so clear, and self- 
 evident, we need not be at all surprised, Shakspere's 
 commentators have never discovered it. Let us examine 
 the comedy of Midas a little more minutely. After 
 reading a few pages, the reader will not fail to notice the 
 great similarity between the passage beginning with " my 
 mistress' disposition " in act first, scene first, and the 
 dialogue between Launce and Speed in the Two Gentlemen 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 107 
 
 of Verona, act third, scene first. That this dialogue is 
 really a jocular conversation between Shakspere and 
 Lyly, I have all along suspected ; there is so much differ- 
 ence of character between them; — Speed establishes- 
 his character for "a quick wit;" Launce, on the con- 
 trary, very soon earns the reputation of " a mad cap " 
 and " an ass," and yet Launce can pun as perseveringly 
 as Speed. An elegant critic can scarcely contain his 
 love for Launce ; he pictures to himself Shakspere in the 
 scene between Launce and Crab as there describing his 
 own leave-taking from Stratford. But be this as it may, 
 in the corresponding passage in Midas there cannot be 
 the slightest doubt, that Licio is Lyly, and Petulus, my 
 dear little pet, is our pleasant Willy ; Licio speaks of 
 his blue nose and bald head, and is evidently a good ten 
 years older than his fellow-page. It is also pleasing to 
 note, that Lyly not only makes Petulus humorous, but 
 even gives him the advantage over Licio in wit. Licio 
 speaking of his nose, reminds us of the passage in Love's 
 Labour's Lost : — 
 
 Naf/i. " My scutcheon plain declares that I am Alexander. 
 
 Boyet. Your nose says, no, you are not ; for it stands too 
 right. 
 
 Biron. Your nose smells, no, in this, most tender-smelling 
 knight." 
 
 The conversation between the wags and huntsman, 
 act fourth, scene third, is a paraphrase of the second 
 scene in the fourth act of Love's Labour's Lost; as 
 Holofernes is a "Latin pedant," and knows not the 
 language of the chase, so the Huntsman is a " sporting 
 pedant," and knows not Latin ; very likely the Hunts- 
 
108 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 mau is Constable Dull, who blunders over " hand credo," 
 and in this instance over "fecere disertum." Minutius 
 appears to be a second edition of Moth ; and Licio's ex- 
 clamation " Dens bone " can only be regarded as a direct 
 allusion to the observation of Sir Nathaniel, " Laus Deo 
 bone intelligo." Motto's expression, " you shall have the 
 beard, in manner and form following," is of course an 
 allusion to Costard. 
 To the preceding may be added the following note : — 
 
 " Orpheus harp was strung with poets' sinews." — 
 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona. 
 
 " So sweet aud musical 
 As bright Apollo's lute strung with his hair." — 
 
 Love's jMbour's Lost. 
 
 " As the sun, he is represented with golden hair, so it 
 means with golden wire. 
 
 " The very same sort of conception occurs in Lyly's 
 Midas, a play which most probably preceded Shakspere's. 
 Act fourth, scene first. Pan tells Apollo, "Had thy 
 lute been of lawrell, and the strings of Daphne's hair, 
 thy tunes might have been compared to my notes." — 
 Warton. 
 
 I trust the reader begins to perceive there is a very 
 intimate connection between Midas and Love's Labour's 
 Lost. Let us now examine into the character and deeds 
 of King Midas. In ancient biography, Midas is repre- 
 sented as an effeminate king of Plirygia, and not a word 
 about his wars or any thing of the sort ; but the Midas 
 of the comedy is no less a mighty warrior than a mag- 
 nificent monarch, a constant fear and jealousy to the 
 neighbouring potentates. We thus see, the Midas of 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 109 
 
 Lyly is no more the Midas of history, than the poetical 
 Antony of Shakspere, is the Mark Antony of history. 
 ■• Amongst other ambitious schemes, Midas is exceedingly 
 anxious to conquer the island of Lesbos. In. ancient 
 times the island was divided into several petty republics, 
 but in the comedy, it is ruled over by a king : — 
 
 Celthus. "More than all this, Amiutas, though we dare 
 not so much as mutter it, their king (little bald-pated John 
 Lyly, the Fiddlestick of Oxford,) is such a one as dazzleth 
 the clearest eyes with majesty, daunteth the valiantest hearts 
 with courage, and for virtue filleth aU the world with wonder." 
 
 The other passages in this scene refer to Shakspere's 
 imitations of the barbarian school, as Titus Andranicus, 
 and Dido and ^neas : — 
 
 " Tis true ; yet since Midas grew so mischievous, as to 
 blur his diadem witli blood, which should glitter with nothing 
 but pity ; " — " well then this I say, when a lion doth so much 
 degenerate from princely kind, that he wiU borrow of the 
 beasts, I say he is no Hon, but a monster ; — 'he is worthy also 
 to have the ears of an ass." — " He seeks to conquer Lesbos," 
 that is. Euphuism. 
 
 2£idas. " Methinks there's more sweetness in the pipe of 
 Pan, than Apollo's lute ; — What hast thou done, ApoUo ? 
 the ears of an ass upon the head of a king ? — If I return to 
 Phyrgia I shall be pointed at. — What will they say in Lesbos, 
 if happily these news come to Lesbos ? ah, foolish Midas ! a 
 just reward, for thy pride 'to wax poor, for thy overweening 
 to wax dull, for thy ambition to was humble. But I must 
 see to cover my shame by art, lest being once discovered to 
 these petty kings of Mysia, Pisidia, and Galatia, they all join 
 to add to mine asses ears, of all the beasts the dullest, a 
 sheep's heart, of all the beasts the fearfuUest ; and so cast 
 lots for those kingdoms, that 1 have won with so many Uves, 
 and kept with so many envies." 
 
110 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 The allusions in this speech are so applicable, so per- 
 tinent, they scarcely require any explanation : — " in 
 Lesbos," at the Mitre; — the petty kings of Mysia, 
 Pisidia, and Galatia, are the three dramatists, Marlowe, 
 Peele, and Greene, proved by the initial letters; the 
 kingdoms won with so many Kves and kept with so 
 many envies refer to his plays ; — he also blames himself 
 for his pride, overweening, and ambition, of which he is 
 accused by his friends in Hamlet, and in the interview 
 with Ophelia, Hamlet says : — 
 
 " I am myself indifiFerent honest, 
 But I could accuse myself of such crimes ; 
 It had been better my mother had ne'er borne me, 
 I am very pr Olid, ambitious, disdainful." — Ed. 1603. 
 
 It mayalso be here mentioned, that of the three courtiers 
 in the opening of the play, Eristus is Peele ; Martins, 
 Marlowe j and Greene, who was the neediest of the three, 
 is MeUacrites, who urges Midas to ask of Bacchus the 
 golden touch ; and afterwards when Martins says, " This 
 win make Pisidia wanton, Lycaonia stiffe," we have in 
 two words the distinctive characters of Peele and Lodge. 
 
 On the king's return, his courtiers remark : — 
 
 Mrist. " I marvel what Midas meaneth to be so melancholy, 
 since his hunting. 
 
 Mel. It is a good word in Midas, otherwise I should term 
 it in another blockishness. Methiuks he seemeth so jealous of 
 us all, and becomes so overthwart to all others, that either I 
 must conjecture his wits are not his own, or his meaning very 
 hard to some." 
 
 [The Reeds. Midas of Phrygia hath asses ears.J 
 
 Erist. This is monstrous and either portends some mischief 
 to the king, or unto the state confusion." 
 
OP SHAKSPERE. Ill 
 
 The reader will readily perceive^ how pointedly all this 
 refers to Hamlet : — 
 
 Hor. " This bodes some strange eruption to our state. 
 Ham. My father's spirit in arms ! all is not well ;■ 
 I doubt some foul play." 
 
 The following advice from Apollo perhaps alludes to 
 Shakspere's quarrel with Nash and Greene, and f'so 
 shows, that Lyly felt hurt at the practical joke in Love's 
 Labour's Lost : — 
 
 Apollo. " Then attend Midas, 
 
 Let thy head be glad of one crown, 
 And take care to keep one friend." 
 
 How pertinently does this last line apply to Shakspere ; 
 whilst it is scarcely applicable to the king, whose courtiers 
 and subjects are most faithful and obedient, and deeply 
 grieved at his misfortune, particularly his barber 
 Motto : — 
 
 Motto. "I tell you, boys, it is melancholy that now 
 troubleth me." 
 
 But who is Motto, and who is DeUo, his boy ? The fol- 
 lowing I'observation of Petulus must refer to Greene's 
 beard, of which Nash tells us, " a jolly long red peake 
 like the spire of a steeple he (Greene) cherisht continually 
 without cutting, whereat a man might hang a jewel, it 
 was so sharp and pendant " : — 
 
 Pet. " And here I vow by my concealed beard, if ever it 
 chance to be discovered to the world, that it may make a pike- 
 devant. I wiE have it so sharp pointed, that it shall stab 
 Motto like a poynado." 
 
 and ^ain we read : — 
 
112 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Pet. " Ah ; a bots on the barber ! ever since I cozened him 
 of the golden beard, I have had the tooth-ache. 
 
 Motto. I did but rub his gums, and presently the rheum 
 evaporated. 
 
 Lido. Deus bone, is that word come into the barber's 
 basin." — Act iii., scene 3. 
 
 Here is clear confirmation, or rather anticipation, of 
 Greene's words in 1592, "an upstai-t crow beautified 
 with our feathers ; " hut whatever the theft may have 
 been, it is certain, both Lyly and Shakspere laugh at it 
 as a capital joke. Greene's charge is thus brought down 
 to something that occurred before the appearance of 
 Hamlet; consequently it can only have reference to 
 Titus Andronicus and the Two Gentlemen of Verona. As 
 Greene had been in Spain, it is possible Shakspere may 
 have taken lessons from him in Spanish, and may have 
 appropriated some passages from the Diana of Monte- 
 mayor, which Greene may have been translating for one 
 of his own novels ; and in the song at the end of the 
 scene are the lines : — 
 
 Pet. " O what will rid me of this pain ? 
 Motto. Some pellitory fetcht from Spain." 
 
 It thus appears, that Motto is Greene ; and Dello says, 
 " if I durst tell the truth, as lusty as I am here, I lie 
 upon a bed of beards ; a bots of their bristles, and they 
 that owe them, they are harder than flocks." This ob- 
 servation refers to Nash's position in 1589 ; what with 
 the Marprelate controversy and his quarrel with Shaks- 
 pere as well as with Greene and Lyly, whom he abuses 
 in his Anatomie of Absurditie, he may well be said to 
 " lie upon a bed of beards ; " and we may be sure, Lyly, 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 113 
 
 would pay off old scores and make a ridiculous puppet of 
 him in this comedy; — also the question of Petulus, 
 " yea Motto hast thou Latin/' is perhaps an allusion to 
 Nash's Epistle prefixed to Greene's Menaphon. Nash in 
 writing this Epistle acted as Greene's assistant, and thus 
 stood in the same relative position to him, as Dello to 
 Motto. 
 
 We may then sum up, — Midas and Shakspere are 
 identical, as regards the golden touch, the ears of an ass, 
 the attack on Lesbos or Euphuism, and the journey to 
 Greece. 
 
 Act first, scene second, refers to act third, scene first, 
 in the T\uo Gentlemen of Verona. 
 
 Act fourth, scene third, refers to act fourth, scene 
 second, in Love's Labour's Lost. 
 
 And the observation of Eristus, " this is monstrous, 
 and either portends some mischief to the king or unto 
 the state confusion," refers to Hamlet. 
 
 Licio and Petulus are Lyly and Shakspere ; 
 
 Motto and Dello are Greene and Nash ; 
 and it should be particularly noticed, that Martius 
 (Marlowe) is the only character that speaks uniformly 
 with disrespect of Apollo ; and in the last scene, Midas 
 speaks severely, though pertinently, to him : — 
 
 Mid. " Thou art barbarous, not valiant. No more, Martius, 
 I am the learned'st in Phrygia to interpret these oracles." 
 
 In reading these two beautiful comedies, Endymion 
 and Midas, at the name of Shakspere all difficulties 
 vanish, the curtain of night is rent, and daylight pours 
 inj his name is the watchword, the "open sesame," 
 Aladdin's lamp. 
 
114 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Lyly wrote another comedyj Mother Bombie, appa- 
 rently in a combative spirit, as a trial of ingenuity 
 versus the Comedy of Errors. 
 
 On examining how the account stands between Shaks- 
 pere and Lyly during the five years from 1586 to 1590, 
 both inclusive, it is evident from the foregoing analysis, 
 the balance must be credited to Shakspere, and some- 
 what heavily ; yet I should be sorry to make the same 
 charges against Lyly as have been made against Shaks- 
 pere. These resemblances are not, on either side, to be 
 regarded as petty thefts or stolen ideas, but as com- 
 pl-mentary allusions, delightful reminiscences; when 
 Shakspere wrote Dogberry and his watchmen, and the 
 Fairies pinching Falstaff, how could he avoid remember- 
 ing the watchmen that guarded, and the Fairies that 
 kissed Endymion ? Dear, good old Lyly ! yet thou liest 
 on the library-shelf unthumbed, for the novel-reader 
 understandeth thee not. 
 
 But, it seems, during the next twenty years Midas 
 makes frequent and terrific raids into the dominions of 
 the Lesbian king, and spite of all his valiant bees, 
 wasp-like, steals away the honey : — 
 
 " Hark, the lark at heaven's gate sings, 
 And Phoebus 'gins arise." 
 
 " Shakspere was familiar with his works, and para- 
 phrases some of his best passages. He was certainly one 
 of those authors Greene accused him so bitterly of copy- 
 ing. In the notes to these volumes, many such passages 
 are pointed out, and others may readily be added. Such 
 and so many resemblances could not be accidental." 
 
 I trust it has been clearly shown, that up to the year 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 115 
 
 1590, the borrowings from Lyly have been of the most 
 trivial kind; and it is just possible, that Shakspere, 
 acting the part of Apelles at the Blackfriars in 1585, 
 was pleased with the phrase, " stars are to be look'd, not 
 reached at," as a concise tm'n of his own thoughts : — 
 
 Ant. " Her face, like heaven, enticeth thee to view 
 A countless glory, which desert must gain : 
 And which, without desert, because thine eye 
 Presumes to reach, all thy whole heap must die." — 
 Pericles, acti., scene 1. 
 
 TJiaisa. " And the device he bears upon his shield 
 
 Is a black ^thiop, reaching at the sun." — 
 
 Act ii., scene 2. 
 
 Let us now make a further examination, and take a 
 closer view of poor, despised Pericles. Like Hamlet, 
 he is of a tender and sensitive disposition, melancholy, 
 and apt to soliloquize. To the valuable notice on the 
 authenticity of Pericles, in the Pictorial Shakspere, may 
 be added the following resemblances ; after reading the 
 riddle Pericles says : — 
 
 " Sharp physick is the last ; " 
 and Hamlet, on seeing his uncle praying, 
 
 " This physick but prolongs thy sickly days ; " 
 
 and again, 
 
 Sim. " What do you think. Sir, of my daughter ? 
 Per. As of a most virtuous princess." — 
 
 Pericles, act ii., scene 5. 
 
116 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 C!or. " My lord, what doe you thinke of me ? 
 King. As of a true friend, and a most loving subject." — 
 
 Hamlet, ed. 1603. 
 
 Antiochus is evidently the same individual as Claudius^ 
 and the similarity is still more distinctly marked in 
 the first sketch of Hamlet ; each is guilty of incest, and 
 in each there is the same energy and decision of cha- 
 racter, and in each the same dread or fear : — 
 
 Ant. " He hath found the meaning, for the which we mean 
 To have his head. 
 
 And therefore instantly this prince must die. 
 It fits thee not to ask the reason why. 
 Because we bid it. 
 
 Thaliard, adieu ! till Pericles be dead, 
 Jly heart can lend no succour to my head." — 
 
 Pericles. 
 
 King. " To England is he gone, ne'er to return : 
 Our letters are unto the King of England, 
 That on the sight of them, on his allegiance. 
 He presently without demanding why. 
 That Hamlet lose his head, for he must die. 
 There's more in him than shallow eyes can see : 
 He once being dead, why then our state is free." — 
 
 Hamlet, ed. 1603. 
 
 The dialogue between Pericles and the fishermen, 
 strongly reminds us of Hamlet and the clowns in the 
 churchyard ; in fact, the two scenes may be regarded as 
 essentially the same in spirit and meaning : — 
 
 2 Fish. " Canst thou catch any fishes then? 
 Fer. I never practised it. 
 
 2 Fish. Nay, then thou wilt starve sure ; for here's 
 nothing to be got iiow-a-days, unless thou canst _/!«/« for 't." — 
 
 Pericles, act ii., scene 1 . 
 
OP SHAK.SPERE. 117 
 
 Here we have the very pun in Hamlet ; — 
 
 Cor. " Now my good lord, do you know me ? 
 Ham. Tea, very well ; y' are afahmonger." 
 
 Hamlet calls him a fishmonger because he is trying to 
 fish out his secret. 
 
 From these extracts it is manifest, these two plays 
 were intimately connected in the poet's mind ; and if 
 there be any truth in the critical theory about germs 
 and pre-existent states, we shall find the difference 
 between Pericles and Hamlet is so much and no more ; 
 the one is an apothecary's apprentice just " out of his 
 indentures," going up to London to walk the hospitals ; 
 the other is the same individual, three years older, a 
 Licentiate of the Apothecaries' Company, and a Member 
 of the Royal College of Surgeons ; a young gentleman 
 extremely well satisfied with himself, very decided and 
 ofi'-hand, no fear of a ghost, and rather apt to quiz and 
 mock old Dr. Polonius. It is worthy of note, these ex- 
 tracts are all taken from the first two acts, which are 
 supposed to bear the fewest traces of Shakspere's hand. 
 
 Mr. Armitage Brown observes, "From the moment 
 Marina appears, Shakspere takes her by the hand and 
 leads her gently onward;" it is pleasing to see the 
 young lady has at least one friend amongst these critics ; 
 her expression, "My heart leaps to be gone into my 
 mother's bosom," is similar to Iphigenia's exclamation 
 on seeing her father : — 
 
 " My father to thy arms I wish to ruu 
 Clasp'd to thy bosom ; " — Iphigenia in Aulis. 
 
 most probably the resemblance is accidental. Unfortu- 
 
118 THE roOTSTEPS 
 
 nately for Mr. Brown's judgment, he further obsen'es, 
 " but I cannot perceive he (Shakspere) had any con- 
 nection with the vile crew who surround her." This is 
 the point, the critics and commentators having so lamen- 
 tably misunderstood ; the poet selected the tale from old 
 Gower as harmonizing completely with his own poetical 
 conception about Tellus and Cynthia; the play is 
 essentially a Hymn to Diana, the goddess of chastity and 
 sister of Apollo, the god " of poesie and physicke." In 
 contrast to virgin innocence and the purity of the 
 married life, the apothecary's apprentice gives a 
 medical view of the mysteries of the temple of Venus ; 
 however coarse the scenes may be, they have entirely a 
 moral tendency, and were, apparently, not objected to in 
 those days, since the play was a popular favourite for 
 many years ; and however coarse, they are far less lewd 
 and prurient than several passages in Lyly's first comedy, 
 the Woman in the Moon, and which, we know, was per- 
 formed in the presence of the Virgin Queen, " as it was 
 presented before her Highness." 
 
 Prom the preceding statements it would appear, 
 Shakspere went to London in 1585, taking Pericles with 
 him ; brings out the Two Gentlemen of Verona in the 
 spring, and Titus Andronicus in the autumn, '86 ; All's 
 Well that Ends Well in the spring, and Dido and j^neas 
 in the autumn, '87 ; being then deeply distressed at the 
 liejection of his tragedy, he meditates and studies long 
 and earnestly over the next ; and in consequence of 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 119 
 
 being also much occupied with his duties as Captain of 
 the Theatrical Volunteers, Hamlet, the crowning glory 
 of that ever-memorable year, 1588, does not make its 
 appearance till just before Christmas ; then Shakspere 
 pours forth the exuberance of his joy in Love's Labour's 
 Lost, followed by that unrivalled farce, the Comedy of 
 Errors, in the autumn of 1589. 
 
 That our pleasant Willy shortly afterwards rusticated 
 himself, bolted into country quarters, frighted by the 
 false fire of Nash's caustic Epistle and by the Kentish 
 fire of Lyly's humourous comedy, can scarcely be 
 credited ; but it rests on indubitable authority, that he 
 did not make his sacrificial offering to Apollo publicly 
 in tbe year 1590, or only just before Christmas. It 
 appears, London was at this time rent with religious 
 dissensions and controversies, and the stage transformed 
 into a theological cock-pit. Spenser has so beautifully 
 and so accurately described this unfortunate period, that 
 I cannot do better than quote his lines from the Tears 
 of the Muses, where Thalia thus laments : — 
 
 " And he, the man whom Nature self had made 
 To mock herself, and truth to imitate. 
 TMth kindly counter, under mimic shade, 
 
 Our pleasant WiUy, ah ! is dead of late; 
 With whom all joy and jolly merriment 
 Is also deaded, and in dolour drent. 
 
 " Instead thereof, scoffin scurrility. 
 
 And scorning foUy with contempt is crept, 
 Eolling in rimes of shameless ribaudry. 
 
 Without regard, or due decorum kept ; 
 Each idle wit at will presumes to make, 
 And doth the learned's task upon him take. 
 
120 THE FOOTSTIil'S 
 
 " But that same gentle spirit, from whose pen 
 Large streams of honey and sweet nectar flow, 
 
 Scorning the boldness of such base-born men. 
 Which dare their follies forth so rashly throw, 
 
 Doth rather choose to sit in idle cell. 
 
 Than so himself to mockery to sell." 
 
 But Spenser here makeSj happily, in one sense, a slight 
 mistake, Shakspere did not " choose to sit in idle cell ; " 
 we now know, he was hard at work, studying the 
 Chronicles of Hall and Holinshed ; and that his brains, 
 like swallows in busy consultation before winging their 
 flight across the ocean, were deeply pondering over the 
 whole sweep of his historical plays, the great English 
 Iliad. Yet it would appear from the testimony of 
 eminent authorities, that he actually wrote only one 
 play, Roineo and Juliet, between Christmas 1589, and 
 Christmas 1593; during these three years, Endymion, 
 from some unknown cause, must have fallen asleep ; but 
 it is questionable whether the chloroform of the en- 
 chanting goddess operated on Shakspere or on his com- 
 mentators. Mr. C. Knight has, with great ability, 
 argued in favour of Shakspere's claim to Henry VI., and 
 the Two Parts of the Contention, now called the Three 
 Parts of Henry VI. So conclusive, so irrefragable are 
 his arguments, I must refer the reader, who would 
 study the subject, to his admirable Essay on Henry VI. 
 and Richard III. 
 
 I have used the term English Iliad advisedly ; for I 
 feel confident Shakspere intended all these plays to be 
 so regarded; the youthful poet here measures himself 
 with Homer, as he had previously with the dramatists of 
 Greece ; and this assertion is based on the opening of 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 121 
 
 Henry VI., which is the first in order of composition, as 
 well as the first of a sequence forming a perfect epic poem. 
 If the Reverend Mr. Hunter can say, " there is some- 
 thing very Greekish in this : " — 
 Portia. " I stand for sacrifice, 
 
 The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives 
 
 With bleared visages, come forth to view 
 
 The issue of the exploit." — Merchant of Venice. 
 
 it may with equal truth be said, there is something very 
 Homeric in this : — 
 
 War. " This brawl to-day 
 
 Grown to this faction, in the Temple garden. 
 Shall send, between the red rose and the white, 
 A thousand souls to death and deadly night." — 
 
 Henry VI., act ii., scene 4. 
 
 and it may be added, Shakspere has given us in the 
 first and third scenes of the first act, a better translation 
 than either Cowper, Pope, or Chapman, of the first book 
 of the Iliad; for it is literally a translation; the jars 
 between Gloster and Winchester reminding us of 
 Agamemnon and AchiUes. 
 
 It is a remarkable circumstance, that in Hamlet, the . 
 story of which resembles the story of Orestes, there 
 should be a paraphrase, or rather, a scene with quota- 
 tions from a scene in the Eledra of Sophocles, and in 
 Henry VI., the commencement of a dramatic epic, we 
 have a paraphrase of the first book of the Iliad ; — nor 
 can I resist the impression, so strong a mesmeric and 
 spirit-rapping hold it has on my imagination, that the 
 line, " the bad revolting stars. That have concented unto 
 Henry's death," is a Shaksperian translation of the 
 Homeric phrase, " such was the will of Jove ; " that the 
 
 G 
 
721 OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 one gave rise to the other; — nor should it be overlooked, 
 that the jar commences in Henry VI. by Gloster's angry 
 reply to Winchester, just as in the Iliad by Agamem- 
 non's haughty conduct to the priest Chryses; and the 
 parallel may be carried still farther, since all the mis- 
 haps to the Greeks arose from Agamemnon's taking 
 Briseis from Achilles, and the real cause of the Conten- 
 tion begins with Plantaganet's claim to the Dukedom 
 of York in the Temple garden ; and whilst in Hamlet 
 the revenge is Greek, in these plays the warriors, no less 
 cruel than abusive, are essentially Homeric both in 
 their language and actions.* 
 
 Had these resemblances occurred in other plays, they 
 might have been regarded as accidental, but as the case 
 stands, such a supposition is inadmissible ; — for my part, 
 I believe Shakspere read the Greek authors in their own 
 language ; but however that may be, these facts deserve 
 the serious consideration of those parties, who are of 
 opinion, Shakspere was as ignorant as Nash and tradi- 
 tion would make him. 
 
 It is possible, Henry VI., like Henry V., may have 
 been preceded by an elder play, equally " contemptible " 
 with the Famous Victories ; but of such a play having 
 ever existed, there is not the slightest trace or evidence, 
 excepting in the inequalities of the play itself, which 
 may reasonably be accounted for by its having been an 
 early production. 
 
 * Maginn considers the character of TJlysses in 'Proihis and Cressida, 
 "to be a studied antagoniem " to the Ulysses of Homer ; and, he 
 adds, " at all events I think it would not be far short of a miracle, 
 if Sliaksperc had not read in some language the Iliad and Odyssey." 
 — Fraser's Magazine, Sept. 1839, p. 270. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 123 
 
 These plays, Henry VI. and the two parts of the Con- 
 tention, must have followed one another in rapid suc- 
 cession, and were probably brought out early in 1591, 
 and Richard III. the following Christmas, or in the 
 spring of 1593. 
 
 Besides these plays, forming an harmonious whole or 
 second half of the English Iliad, Romeo and Juliet was 
 produced within the same period, in 1591. It has been 
 said, Shakspere's heroines do not set a very good ex- 
 ample, as nearly all make runaway matches ; but how 
 are they rewarded ? If those parties who carp and rail 
 at Shakspere as a writer, having no moral object in 
 ■view, would read and understand, they would cease such 
 idle revilings. In this very play does he set up Juliet 
 as an example or a warning to the boarding-school 
 Misses in their teens ? Is she not a most affectionate 
 and enthusiastic young lady, so that everyone pities and 
 regrets her misfortunes? but are they not the conse- 
 quences of her own misconduct? she mystifies her 
 parents, and instead of pouring hier griefs into the 
 bosom of her mother, she goes to her father-confessor, 
 and thus the poet shows how injurious is the influence 
 of the Popish priest; and further, how assuredly young 
 lovers are punished for yielding to their wilful and un- 
 bridled passions. What a contrast is this wilful, forward, 
 black-eyed minx to the sweet Ophelia, so dutiful and so 
 loving ; whose affections are far more pure, and whose 
 love is equally intense. Both perish; but how far 
 greater are the trials of Ophelia, and how far more 
 hopeless is her case than Juliet's. Her father murdered 
 by her lover, he banished and a lunatic; and whilst 
 
124 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Juliet brings her own miseries on herself by want of 
 candour to her parents, Ophelia is sacrificed through the 
 crotchety idea of Hamlet pretending to be cracked. 
 "Juliet plays most of her pranks," says Johnson, "under 
 the appearance of religion; perhaps Shakspere meant 
 to punish her hypocrisy/' Is not that the character of 
 an Italian, rather than an English maiden ? 
 
 We have now arrived at a very interesting period in 
 the life of Shakspere. Shortly before Christmas, 1592, 
 or early in the following spring, were produced two 
 comedies, the Merry Wives of Windsor and Midsummer 
 Night's Dream. There is a tale, that the first was com- 
 posed in the course of a fortnight by command of her 
 Majesty ; but her Majesty's commands must have been 
 limited to the writing of a comedy, as she could have 
 known nothing about FalstafF, since Henry IV. was not 
 produced till several years later. Most probably the 
 comedy was written in the autumn, as the German 
 Duke, who visited Windsor, received his passport from 
 Lord Howard, September 2nd, 1592. 
 
 In the two parts of Henry IV. the character of 
 Falstaff is drawn with inimitable skill, and Sir John 
 may truly say, " I am myself alone ;" but in the Merry 
 Wives of Windsor we see our pleasant Willy in the guise 
 of the fat knight, like a pretty mischievous child peeping 
 from behind a mask, laughing and making merry with 
 his old friend Lyly as Sir Hugh Evans ; and at the same 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 125 
 
 time Marlowe, our old acquaintance Sir Tophas, Parolles, 
 and Don Armado, is again caricatured under the name 
 of Pistol. 
 
 Let us make an examination into the various allusions 
 and resemblances, and see how far these assertions are 
 borne out : — 
 
 Fal. " Kemember, Jove, thou wast a bull for thy Europa. 
 You were also, Jupiter, a swan for the love of Leda. O, 
 Jove, a beastly fault ! and then another fault in the semblance 
 of a fowl ; think on't, Jove ; a foul fault." — '■ 
 
 Act v., scene 5. 
 ^pel. " This is Europa. This is Leda, whom Jove de- 
 ceived in likeness of a swan. 
 
 Camp. A fair woman, but a foul deceit." — 
 
 Campaspe, act iii., scene 3. 
 
 Falstaff then lies down [like Corsites in Endymion, 
 around whom "the Fairies daunce and with a song 
 pinch him;"] a similar direction is given in the old 
 quartos, says Theobald, " during this song they pinch 
 him" (Falstaff). 
 
 On rising up Falstaff says : — 
 
 Fal. " I do begin to perceive that I am made an ass. 
 Ford. Ay, and an as. too ; both the proofs are extant." 
 
 It is very evident Falstaff has made an ass of himself j 
 but what does Ford mean by "Ay, and an ox too;" 
 how could he, a burgher of Windsor, add, " both the 
 proofs are extant;" when Falstaff had on the antlers of 
 " a Windsor stag," and not the horns of an ox? Perhaps 
 the following extract from the comedy of Midas may 
 throw some light on the subject : — 
 
 Mid. " What hast thou done, Apollo ? the ears of an ass 
 
 ou the head of a king ? Help, Pan 1 or Midas perisheth. 
 
126 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Pan. I cannot undo what Apollo hath done, nor give thee 
 any amends, unless to those ears thou wilt have added these 
 horns. 
 
 1. Nymph. It were very well, that it might be hard to 
 judge, whether he were more ox or ass. 
 / Apollo. Farewell, Midas. 
 
 Pan. Midas, farewell." 
 
 Ford's observation, "Ay, and an ox too," thus be- 
 comes proof irresistible, — Shakspere was Midas, and 
 that he enjoyed the joke. 
 
 Fal. " Am I ridden with a Welch goat too. 
 
 Seese and putter ! have I lived to stand at the taunts of one 
 that makes fritters of Enghsh. 
 
 I am not able to answer the Welch flannel ; ignorance itself 
 is a plummet o'er me ; use me as you will." 
 
 These jests refer to Euphuism ; the author oiEuphues 
 being transformed into a Welshman; and in Love's 
 Labour's Lost the Princess says of Don Armado : — 
 
 " He speaks not like a man of God's making." 
 
 From these allusions to three of Lyly's comedies, 
 Campaspe, Endymion, and Midas, all in one scene, it 
 may be reasonably inferred, Shakspere himself is laugh- 
 ing behind the back of the fat old knight; for it is 
 highly improbable he would have made these allusions 
 so direct and pointed without some definite object and 
 meaning. 
 
 The observation, " Fery goot ; I will make a prief of 
 it in my note-book," directly connects Sir Hugh Evans 
 with Sir Nathaniel in Love's Labour's Lost : — 
 
 Nath. " A most singular and choice epithet." — 
 
 [Takes out his table-book. 
 
Ol' SHAIiSFEEE. 
 
 127 
 
 And we are strongly reminded of Costard's character 
 of Sir Nathaniel by Sir Hugh's behaviour in the field, 
 whilst waiting for Dr. Caius, where he shows such a 
 tender and generous disposition without detracting from 
 his personal courage. 
 
 Sir Hugh's remark, ''for divers philosophers hold, 
 that the lips is parcel of the mouth," is a comphmentary 
 allusion to a passage in Midas ; and his examination of 
 William in Latin, has reference to another passage in 
 the same scene : — 
 
 Licio. " Thou servest Mellacrites, and I his daughter ; 
 which is the better man ? 
 
 Fef. The masculine gender is more worthy than the 
 feminine." 
 
 It has been previously shown, that Licio is Lyiy, and 
 Petulus Shakspere ; and here we have Sir Hugh ques- 
 tioning a little boy called William, and at the end of the 
 examination his mother says : — 
 
 Mrs. P. " He is a better scholar than I thought he was. 
 Evans. He is a good sprag memory." 
 
 If the other allusions hold good, it must also be 
 granted, Shakspere here directly asserts, he is a better 
 scholar than the world gives him credit for. 
 
 As for Pistol, there can be no doubt about him ; he is 
 a braggart, a tame cheater, and in his way a learned 
 man, making quotations chiefly from Marlowe's and 
 Lyly's works, and so identifying himself: — 
 
 Slend. " If I be drunk, I'll be drunk with those, that have 
 the fear of God, and not \vith drunken knaves. 
 Fist. How now Mephistophilus ? 
 Bard. Like three German devils, three Doctor Faustus's. 
 
128 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Fist. Thou art the Mars of malecontents. 
 Let vultures gripe thy guts !* 
 
 0, base Gongarian wight ! wilt thou the spigot wield ?f 
 He loves thy gaUimawfry, Ford, perpend.J 
 
 The following points evidently refer to Sir Tophas' 
 description of his behoved Dipsas in Endymion ; — 
 
 Fal. " My honest lads, I will tell you what I am about. 
 
 Pist. Two yards and more. 
 
 Fal. No quips now. Pistol ; indeed I am in the waist two 
 yards about; but I am now about no waste, I am about 
 tlirift. 
 
 Pist. As many devils entertain; and, " To Tier hoy" say I. 
 
 Pal. Sometimes the beam of her view gilded my foot, 
 sometimes my portly belly. 
 
 Pist. Then did the sun on dunghill shine." § — 
 
 Act i., scene 3. 
 
 To'p. " What a low stature she is, and yet what a great 
 foot she carrieth ! How thrifty must she be in whom there is 
 no waste ! How virtuous is she like to be, over whom no man 
 can be jealous 1 " 
 
 " There appeared in my sleep a goodly owl, who sitting 
 upon my shoulder, cried twit, twit, and before my eyes pre- 
 sented herself the express image of Dipsas. I marvailed what 
 the owl said, till at the last, I perceived twit, twit, to it, to it ; 
 only by contraction admonished by this vision, to make ac- 
 count of my sweet Venus." — Pkdymion, act iii., scene 3. 
 
 Pist. " Shall I Sir Pandarus of Troy become 
 
 And by my side wear steel ? then Lucifer take all ! " 
 
 At this very time Marlowe was acting the part of a 
 
 * "A burlesque on a passage in Tamburlaine." — Stevens. 
 
 f This is a parody on " A base Gongarian, wUt tliou the distaif 
 wield?" 
 
 X This is perhaps a ridicule on » passage in the old comedy of 
 Cambyses, " my sapient words I say perpend." — Stevens. 
 
 § A quotation from JSuphues, " The sun shineth upon a dunghill." 
 
■ OF SHAKSPERE. 129 
 
 needy flatterer and sycophant to the 3'oung Earl of 
 Southampton. 
 
 As Pistol's " two yards and more " is not an original 
 witticismj we may feel certain, — "the world's mine 
 oyster, which I with sword will open " is also borrowed, 
 perhaps a joke of Shakspere's or Lyly's over their oysters 
 at the Mitre ; — Pistol is not represented here as a ^rit, 
 but rather as a learned man, all his bright sayings are 
 quotations. 
 
 The above statement, containing so many allusions 
 and resemblances to passages in Endymion and Midas, 
 forms a mass of evidence, which forces on us the con- 
 clusion, that Pistol, Hke Sir Tophas, is a caricature of 
 Marlowe ; that Sir Hugh Evans is a Welch portrait of 
 Lyly J and that Shakspere is acting the part of Sir John 
 Falstaff, enjoying the fun, and very discreetly putting 
 the buck's horns upon his own head to save himself from 
 a worse fate, the good-humoured wrath of the monarch 
 of Lesbos. 
 
 It must then also be granted, Shakspere acknowledges 
 the truth of Shallow's accusation : — 
 
 Shal. " Knight, you have beaten my men, killed my deer, 
 and broke open my lodge. 
 
 Fal. But not kiss'd your keeper's daughter ? 
 
 S/ial. Tut, a pin ! this shall be answer'd. 
 
 Fal. I will answer it straight; — I have done all this ; — 
 That is now answered." 
 
 A deal of nonsensical cant has been uttered against 
 Shakspere on this score ; but it is now acknowledged, 
 " Deer-stealing in Shakspere's day was regarded only as 
 a youthful frolic, &c." Staunton's Shakspere. 
 
 g2 
 
130 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 But the most interesting part of the comedy remains 
 yet to be examined into ; we have mentioned a little 
 boy, named William, but there is also a young lady 
 named Anne; now if the preceding observations be 
 admitted, it follows as a matter of course, that sweet 
 Anne Page stands as the representative of Anne 
 Hathaway ; and Master Fenton, of the apothecary's ap- 
 prentice, William Shakspere. The evidence in their 
 favour is as clear and strong as that which has been 
 advanced with regard to the other characters. " In fact 
 we do know," says Drake, "that Shakspere married for 
 love, but we do not know of any the smallest intimation 
 or hint, previous to the wild conjecture of Oldys, that 
 coldness or estrangement had subsisted between the poet 
 and his wife." Much ink has been spilt about his un- 
 happiness in having married a lady older than himself, 
 and the proofs after ransacking his plays, are the lines in 
 Twelfth Night, a couple of lines in Midsummer Night's 
 Dream, and the acute remark of Sir Hugh Evans, " I 
 like not when a 'oman has a great peard ; I spy a great 
 peard under her muffler." 
 
 It seems singular and not very creditable to human 
 nature, that such illiberal surmises should have been 
 drawn from the lines in Twelfth Night and so much 
 harped upon ; whilst, as far as I am aware, no notice 
 whatever has been taken of the marriage of Master 
 Fenton and Miss Anne Page : — 
 
 Host. "What say you to young Master Fenton? he 
 •capers, he dances, he has eyes of youth, he writes verses, he 
 speaks holiday, he smells April and May ; he will carry 't he 
 will cai-ry 't ; 'tis in his buttons ; he will carry 't. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 131 
 
 Page. Not by my consent I promise you. The gentleman 
 is of no having ; he kept company with the wild Prince and 
 Poins ; he is of too high a region, he knows too much. No, he 
 shall not knit a knot in his fortunes with the finger of my 
 substance : if he take her let him take her simply ; the wealth 
 I have waits on my consent, and my consent goes not that 
 way." — Actiii., scene 2. 
 
 Anne. Gentle Master Fenton, 
 
 Yet seek my father's love ; stQl seek it, sir : 
 
 If opportunity and humblest suit 
 
 Cannot attain it, why then. — Hark you hither." 
 
 [They converse upart.. 
 Fent. " You do amaze her : Hear the truth of it. 
 
 You would have married her most shamefuUj', 
 
 Where there was no proportion held in love. 
 
 The truth is, she and I, long since contracted, 
 
 Are now so sure that nothing can dissolve us. 
 
 The offence is holy, that she hath committed ; 
 
 And this deceit looses the name of craft, 
 
 Of disobedience or unduteous title ; 
 
 Since therein she doth evitate and shun 
 
 A thousand irreligious cursed hours. 
 
 Which forced marriage would have brought upon her." 
 
 How closely and accurately do all these circumstances 
 fit in with Shakspere's own marriage ; probably a run-a- 
 way match without the knowledge of their parents. 
 How pleasingly does the host describe the youthful 
 poet, ascribing to him the very sins which Groodman 
 Hathaway would most object tOj — he dances^ writes 
 verseSj and speaks holiday. Is it not also possible and 
 probable^ that the daughter, according to tradition, 
 "eminently beautiful/' remained in a state of single 
 blessedness till her twenty-fifth year, because she would 
 not marry, where she did not love ; and as Justice 
 
132 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Shallow is acknowledged to have been a Lucy of Charle- 
 cote, it is possible, cousin Slender and Dr. Cains may 
 both have been rejected admirers of that " splendid gal " 
 Anne Hathaway, the prototype probably of Thaisa and 
 Silvia. Moreover, Master Fenton's address occurs just 
 at the end of the play, and is delivered with so much 
 earnestness, and the lines are so peculiarly appropriate 
 to Shakspere's own marriage, we are necessitated to 
 believe, they are the genuine utterances of his own mind, 
 and that his own marriage had consequently been a very 
 happy one; and that all the circumstances connected 
 with the previous contract or betrothal, " lotig since con- 
 tracted," had been reputable and consonant with the 
 feelings of persons in their station : — 
 
 " The offence is holy that she hath committed," 
 
 This analysis of the comedy according to "my humour," 
 instead of detracting from the merriment of the Merry 
 Wives of Windsor, adds richness and raciness to the 
 story. No reader will ever confound the living characters 
 of the comedy with their prototypes or shadows ; and 
 though the poet has made the marriage of Master Fen ton 
 and sweet Anne Page a vehicle for the justification of his 
 own early marriage, yet surely they will live immortal 
 and distinct from our pleasant Willy and his own sweet 
 Anne. — Mr. Halliwell has pointed out, that Sly, Heme, 
 Home, Brome, Page, and Ford, are names found in 
 MSS. in the Council Chamber, at Stratford. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 133 
 
 We must now have a few minutes conversation with 
 Thomas Nash, as he furnishes additional evidence, that 
 Shakspere and Midas are one; and also explains a 
 Falstaffian phrase, that has caused the shedding of much 
 ink. The following extracts are all taken from Mr. 
 Collier's edition of Pierce Penniless. Mr. Collier ob- 
 serves, " It seems evident that Nash felt, in the opening 
 of the preceding epistle, (which we give literatim) that 
 he was performing a task ; but, towards the conclusion, 
 he freed himself from this impression, and shook off the 
 restraint upon his pen. It is impossible at this time of 
 day to explain some of the temporary, and designedly 
 ambiguous touches at authors of his day, near the close, 
 but the hit at Peele and his Tale of Troy, 1589, seems 
 pretty obvious, and Nash sets out with an obscure re- 
 ference to Greene, and to the manner in which he was 
 accustomed to vaunt his University Degrees at Oxford 
 and Cambridge, in the title-pages of his tracts." 
 
 The prefatory epistle to Nash's edition of Astrophel 
 and Stella, 1591, above referred to, contains the following 
 passages : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, that have seen a thousand lines of folly 
 drawn forth ex uno puncto impudentuB, and two famous 
 mountains to go to the conception of one mouse ; that 
 have had your ears deafened with the echo of Fames 
 brazen towers, when only they have been toucht with a 
 leaden pen ; that have seen Pan sitting in his bower of 
 delight, and a number of Midasses to admire his miser- 
 able hornpipes, let not your surfeited sight, new come 
 from such puppet play, think scorn to turn aside into 
 this theatre of pleasure." 
 
134 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 These allusions refer to Greene, Shakspere, and Lyly ; 
 — the two universities going to form one Greene; — 
 Fame's brazen towers and the leaden pen to Shakspere's 
 Henry VI.; — and Lyly is the author of Midas.. This 
 Explanation is confirmed by the follomng passage : — 
 
 " Apollo hatb resigned his ivory harp unto Astrophel, 
 and he, like Mercury, must lull you asleep with his 
 musick. Sleep Argus, sleep Ignorance, sleep Impudence, 
 for Mercury hath lo, and only lo Paean belongeth to 
 Astrophel." The name of Argus is peculiarly applicable 
 to Lyly ; Impudence is of course Greene, and Mr. Igno- 
 rance can answer for himself. 
 
 We can now also readily understand the drift of 
 Falstaff's expression, " ignorance itself is a plummet o'er 
 me ; " evidently an allusion to this epistle. The worthy 
 knight quibbles on the word plummet, a pen or lead, that 
 is, " a leaden pen ; " as if he had said, " I am not able to 
 answer the Welch flannel; Nash even may abuse or 
 jest over me ; use me as you will." 
 
 The reader, on being aware that EupJmes was pub- 
 lished in 1580, and Astrophel and Stella not tUl 1591, 
 though written several years before, will readily under- 
 stand the following humourous piece of satire, or DeUo's 
 revenge for his ridiculous position in Midas ; ignis fatuus 
 is an admirable and most apposite name for Euphues, 
 and " arise out of dunghilles " refers to the line in 
 Euphues. 
 
 " The sun shineth upon a dunghill." 
 
 " The sun for a time may mask his golden head in a 
 cloud, yet in the end the thick veil doth vanish, and his 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 135 
 
 embellished blandishment appears. Long hath Astrophel 
 (England's sun) withheld the beams of his spirit from 
 the common view of our dark sense, and night hath 
 hovered over the gardens of the Nine Sisters, while 
 ignis fatuus, and gross fatty flames, (such as commonly 
 arise out of dunghills) have took occasion, in the middest 
 eclipse of his shining perfections, to wander abroad with 
 a wisp of paper at their tails, like hobgoblins, and lead 
 men up and down in a circle of absurdity a whole week, 
 and never know where they are." 
 
 The following points apply to Marlowe, Shakspere, 
 and Peele ; evidently Dello is in a very uncomfortable 
 and bristling humour if not " on a bed of beards," a 
 hedgehog to himself as well as to his friends ; — " Nor 
 hath my prose any skill to imitate the almond leaf verse, 
 or sit tabring five years together nothing but to bee, to 
 bee on a paper drum." 
 
 " Others are so hardly bested for loading, that they 
 are fain to retail the cinders of Troy, and the shivers 
 of broken trunchions to fill up their boat, that else 
 should go empty." 
 
 The " almond leaf verse " is an ironical compliment; 
 as the second part of Tamburlaine and the first three 
 books of the Fairy Queen were published in 1590, the 
 public immediately discovered, that Marlowe had pur- 
 loined from Spenser the passage in Tamburlaine com- 
 mencing with : — 
 
 " Like to an almond-tree y-mounted high." 
 
 The following graphic and invaluable caricature belongs 
 to Mr. Ignorance and no mistake : — 
 
136 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 " An asse is no great statesman in the beastes common- 
 wealth, though he weare his ears upsevant muffe, after 
 the Muscovy fashion, and hange the lip like a capcase 
 halfe open, or looke as demurely as a sixpenny .browne 
 loafe, for he hath some imperfections that do keep him 
 from the common councel : yet of many he is deemed a 
 very vertuous member, and one of the honestest sort of 
 men that are ; so that our opinion (as Sextus Empedocles) 
 gives the name of good or ill to every thing. Out of 
 whose works [latelie translated into English for the 
 benefit of unlerned writers] &c." 
 
 The words, " a very vertuous member and one of the 
 honestest sort of men," correspond remarkably with 
 Chettle's account written in the following year, " he had 
 himself seen his demeanour, no less civil than he excellent 
 in the quality he professed : besides divers of worship 
 have reported his uprightness of dealing, which argues 
 his honesty." 
 
 In vol. ii., p. 10. of the Shakspere Society, is an ac- 
 count of Shakspere's bust ; " The forehead is as fine as 
 Raphael's or Bacon's, and the form of the nose and 
 exquisite refinement of the mouth, with its amiable 
 genial hilarity of wit and goodnature, so characteristic, 
 unideal ; bearing truth in every curve, with a little bit of 
 the teeth shewing at the moment of smiling, which must 
 have been often seen by those, who had the happiness to 
 know Shakspere, and must have been pointed out to the 
 sculptor as necessary to likeness when he was dead. 
 The whole bust is stamped with an air of fidelity, perfectly 
 invaluable." 
 
 The reader cannot fail to notice the singular coinci- 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 137 
 
 dence between " hange the lip lilie a capcase half open," 
 and " a little bit of the teeth shewing/' 
 
 Mr, CoUierj in his remarks on Pierce Penniless, 
 observes, " Nash had by this time found a patron ; pos- 
 sibly the Earl of Southampton, to whom Nash dedicates 
 several tracts, was the nobleman intended." This 
 appears highly probable, for " love's eagle-born Gani- 
 mede " can only be a young nobleman of singular beauty, 
 Nash at this time was in great distress, and apparently 
 dependent on the liberality of Lord Southiampton, who 
 idolized and worshipped Shakspere. Nash therefore 
 changed his tune, and sycophant-like fawned on the 
 mighty dramatist. In the commencement of Pierce 
 Penniless, he writes : — 
 
 " Without redresse complaynes my careless verse. 
 And Midas eares relent not at my moane ; " 
 
 and in his epistle to the printer, in the second edition, 
 he indignantly repudiates Greene's tract as " a scald, 
 trixial, lying pamphlet," 
 
 Since " the two parts of the Contention were produced 
 as early, if not earlier, than 1591, by universal admis- 
 sion," the play of Henry VI., alluded to by Nash in this 
 tract, and performed at the Rose for the first time, 
 March 3, 1592, must have been an imitation of Shaks- 
 pere's, and probably owed its success to the principal 
 character being performed by Alleyn, to the popularity 
 of the subject, and to the circumstance of English troops 
 being then in France assisting the King of Navarre, and 
 which was perhaps one inducement why Shakspere began 
 his historical series with Henry VI. 
 
 As Nash, in Pierce Penniless, speaks of his " beardless 
 
138 THE rOOTSTEtS 
 
 years," 1 may mention, he was then in his twenty-fifth 
 year, he was bom in November, 1567; Marlowe in 
 February, and Shakspere in April, 1564; Lyly in 1554, 
 and Greene probably in 1550. 
 
 As Marlowe died on June 1, 1593, we may take this 
 opportunity of reviewing his career as connected with 
 Shakspere. Tamburlaine, it is supposed, was produced 
 (both parts) in 1586, and, no doubt, some other play by 
 his hand had previously appeared [let it be remembered 
 the two poets are exactly of the same age] ; thus it 
 becomes dubious, whether the palm of priority should 
 be given to Shakspere or Marlowe; but as Shakspere 
 went straight to London to join the Blackfriars Com- 
 pany, it may reasonably be supposed, his thoughts had 
 long been turned to the stage, and that he had conse- 
 quently written a play previous to Pericles. As Arden 
 of Feversham cannot be attributed to any known author 
 anterior to 1592, surely the supposition is admissible, 
 that it was the work on which Shakspere tried his 
 " prentice hand ; " apart from the opinion of German 
 critics, it is strong presumptive evidence thereof, that 
 the clear and cautious judgment of Mr. C. Knight appa- 
 rently leans to a similar supposition. Though a domestic 
 tragedy, it it composed decidedly on Endymion's theory, 
 the young Swan beats his wings vigorously, eager to 
 have a snap at the moon : — 
 
 " The character of Black Will is drawn with great 
 force, but there is probably something of a youthful 
 
OP SHAKSPERE. 139 
 
 judgment in making the murderer speak in high poetry. 
 The characters and events are lifted out of ordinary life 
 of purpose by the poet. The ambition of a young writer 
 may have carried this too far, but the principle upon 
 which he worked was a right one. He aimed to produce 
 something higher than a literal copy of every-day life, 
 and this constitutes the essential distinction between 
 Arden of Feversham and the Yorkshire Tragedy, as 
 between Shakspere and Heywood." — Pictorial Shaks- 
 pere. 
 
 Even if it be not conceded that Arden of Feversham 
 was written by Shakspere, still he claims precedence of 
 Marlowe as a playwright. 
 
 It may then be taken for granted, the two parts of 
 Tamburlaine appeared in 1586, Faustus at Christmas, 
 ^87, and the Jew of Malta at Christmas, '89, or early in 
 1590. Let any person read Tamburlaine and Faustus, — 
 Pericles and Hamlet, — then let him read the Jew of 
 Malta, and he will readily perceive how diligently and 
 earnestly the author must have studied the Shaksperian 
 plays. For the Jew differs from its predecessors not 
 only in a freer versification and in a more natural style, 
 but also in several quibbles, and in certain phrases, as, 
 " Who comes here ? " " but soft j " two familiar expres- 
 sions essentially Shaksperian. "Soft" occurs three 
 times in Endymion and six times in Midas, evidently 
 from the association of ideas ; this soft expression was 
 probably a conversational habit with Shakspere, as 
 " noting it down " was a custom with Lyly. 
 
 Mr. Dyce justly repudiates the supposition, that 
 Shakspere, from the Jew of Malta, " caught anything 
 
140 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 more than a few trifling hints for the Merchant of 
 Venice ; " nor is it likely the youthful creator of Aaron 
 would, seven years after, copy from a copy ; for Barabas 
 and Ithamore, master and servant, are two unmitigated 
 villains, each having a resemblance to Aaron in Titus 
 Andronicus ; thus the dying speech of Barabas, in its 
 fiendish malignity, is clearly an imitation of one of 
 Aaron's : — 
 
 Bar. " Know, governor, 'twas I that slew thy son, — 
 
 I fram'd the challenge that did make them meet : 
 Know, Calymath, I aim'd thy overthrow : 
 And had I but escap'd this stratagem, 
 I would have brought confusion on you all, 
 Damn'd Christian dogs, and Turkish infidels ! " — 
 Jew of Malta, p. 347. 
 
 Aar. " Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth. 
 I train'd ihy brethren to that guileful hole. 
 Where the dead corpse of Bassiauus lay : 
 1 Avrote the letter that thy father found, 
 And hid the gold within the letter mention'd. 
 Confederate with the queen and her two sons." 
 
 Titus Andronicus, act v., scene 1. 
 
 The Jew's love for his daughter is thus ironically 
 described : — 
 
 Bar. " I have no charge nor many children. 
 
 But one sole daughter, whom I hold as dear 
 As Agamemnon did his Iphigen ; 
 And all I have is^ hers ; " 
 
 he is quite ready to sacrifice her to " raise the wind," 
 and at last poisons her for turning Christian. 
 
 But as Aaron, unlike Barabas, has one touch of nature 
 in his composition, so must Ithamore, who, in fact, is 
 Aaron himself, ita-more — the Moor again ; and so Itha- 
 
OF SHAKSPEKE. 141 
 
 more falls in love with Bellamira, and addresses to her 
 the following remarkable speech : — 
 
 Bell. " I have no husband, sweet, I'll many thee. 
 
 Itha. Content : but we will leave this paltry land. 
 
 And sail from hence to Greece, to lovely Greece ; — "^ 
 I'll be thy Jason, thou my golden fleece ; — 
 Where painted carpets o'er the meads are hurl'd. 
 And Bacchus vineyards overspread the world ; 
 Where woods and forests go in goodly green ; — 
 I'll be Adonis, thou shalt be Love's Queen ; 
 The meads, the orchards, and the prim-rose lanes. 
 Instead of sedge and reed, bear sugar-canes : 
 Thou in those groves, by Dis above, 
 Shalt live with me, and be my love." 
 
 The last line is a quotation, slightly varied, from the 
 Passionate Shepherd to his Love, a beautiful song of 
 Shakspere's, but most unjustly attributed to Marlowe 
 on the weakest evidence possible. It was originally 
 printed as Shakspere's in the Passionate Pilgrim, 1599; 
 but in the following year, 1600, it was published in 
 England's Helicon, and subscribed with the name C 
 Marlowe. So far the one publication neutralises the 
 other ; but fifty-three years later, or sixty years after the 
 death of Marlowe, Isaac Walton inserted it ''in his 
 Complete Angler, under the character of " That smooth 
 song, which was made by Kit Marlowe, now at least 
 fifty years ago ; and an Answer to it which was made 
 by Sir Walter Raleigh in his younger days." War- 
 burton unhesitatingly gives both to Shakspere; and 
 " snatches of this one are sung by Sir Hugh Evans in 
 the Merry Wives of Windsor" The song of four stanzas, 
 I believe, is Shakspere's, the other two stanzas may be 
 
142 THE FOOTSTEl'S 
 
 anybody's. Throughout all the acknowledged -writings 
 of Marlowe, the nearest approach to this song is the very 
 speech addressed to Bellamira ; " we look in vain/' says 
 an eminent critic, " for a single familiar image in Mar- 
 lowe's poetry;" another authority says, "Of an age 
 distinguished for the excellence of its rural poetry, this 
 is, without doubt, the most admirable and finished 
 pastoral." On a dispassionate examination, even grant- 
 ing the Reply to have been written by Sir Walter, 
 Marlowe appears to have no more claim to this most 
 admirable and finished pastoral than Bamfield has to 
 Shakspere's Spenserian Sonnet. 
 
 The last line, then, of Ithamore's speech, "live with 
 me, and be my love," being a quotation from Shakspere's 
 song, carries with it a peculiar significance ; and it is 
 very remarkable, whilst Tamburlaine and Faustiis are 
 nearly free 
 
 " From jigging veins of rhyming molher-wits," 
 this tragedy abounds with rhyming couplets besides this 
 whole speech in rhyme, a speech singularly inappropriate 
 in the mouth of Ithamore, unless a hidden sense be 
 attached to it ; there must be some meaning in such an 
 extraordinary revolution in the poet's proceedings ; and 
 perhaps Pilia Borza's reply to Bellamira's inquiry about 
 Ithamore, puts us on the right scent, on the true path of 
 discovery : — 
 
 Bel. " And where didst meet him ? 
 
 Pilia. Upon mine own freehold, within forty foot of the 
 gallows, conning his neck-verse, I think it, looking of a friar's 
 execution." 
 
 Both Mr. Collier and Mr. Dyce consider, the Jew of 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 143 
 
 Malta was written about 1589 or 1590; it may then be 
 regarded as certajuj it was not produced till some time 
 after Nash's Epistle prefixed to Greene's Menaphon. 
 
 We can now readily understand Pilia Borza's obser- 
 vatioUj that he found Ithamore " within forty foot of 
 the gallowSj conning his neck-verse ; " and when Itha- 
 more saySj " I scorn to write a line under a hundred 
 crowns," Pilia significantly replies, " You'd make a rich • 
 poet, sir." We can also see the meaning of the journey 
 to Greece, the "pj Dis above" being a jocular allusion 
 to his classical ignorance, and the quotation, " live with 
 me and be my love," from Shakspere's pretty song, 
 clearly pointing out the particular individual, to whom 
 these allusions refer. The coincidence about Greece 
 between Marlowe and Lyly in this play and in Midas, 
 both written at the same time, confirms the impression, 
 Shakspere must have read the Greek dramatists in their 
 own language, and that William deserved his mama's 
 praise : — 
 
 Mrs. Page. " He is a better scholar than I thought he was. 
 Mans. He is a good sprag memory." 
 
 Furthermore the singular comparison of Barabas' love 
 for his daughter to Agamemnon's love for Iphigenia 
 raises a suspicion, Shakspere may have read up the 
 Greek plays with Marlowe, and, no doubt, paid him 
 handsomely for his services; it also strengthens the 
 opinion, that Ophelia is risen, Phcenix-like, from the 
 ashes of Iphigenia, that Marlowe knew the fact, and that 
 Abigail is his translation of the character, or rather a 
 copy of Ophelia; there is besides much in the bitterness 
 
144 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 of Barabas, reminding us of Hamlet's causticity to his 
 dear friends the two sponges. 
 
 The stertorous breathing, dilated pupil, and insensi- 
 bility; — the blueness, coldness, and diarrhsea,-:-are not 
 so distinctive marks of apoplexy and cholera, as the 
 neck- verse, journey to Greece, and " by Dis above," are 
 diagnostic symptoms of the immortal William ; conse- 
 ■ quently " live vrith me and be my love " must be taken 
 from one of Shakspere's songs ; and consequently in this 
 short scene of Satanic comedy, Ithamore stands as his 
 representative, no doubt intended as a compliment, if 
 not a flattering likeness ; of course every portrait painter 
 is not a Ross or a Lawrence ; so is it equally certain, 
 that Pilia Borza is a self-drawn portrait of the author, 
 a striking likeness and original; not drawn uncon- 
 sciously, like the self-drawn portraits of Shakspere and 
 Coleridge, but knowingly and intentionally, for is it not 
 said of ParoUes, " is it possible, he should know what he 
 is, and be that he is ? " 
 
 As the Jew of Malta appears from the preceding ana- 
 lysis to have been a very studied performance, it must 
 have cost Marlowe much thought and labour, and was 
 probably not produced before the spring of 1590 ; it was 
 followed by King John, Edward II., and the Massacre at 
 Paris, and by the Taming of a Shrew in the spring of 
 1593 ; Bido, as much as belongs to Marlowe, must have 
 been an early work, perhaps written in '88 after the 
 failure of Dido and ^neas, and not proceeded with on 
 account of his new engagements with his humourous 
 and satirical patron. We thus see, Marlowe had the 
 tact and wordly wisdom at a great theatrical crisis to 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 145 
 
 stand by " the coming man/' and swear himself in as 
 " liegeman to the Dane," and from this time forth he 
 remained the humble follower and close imitator of the 
 mighty dramatist and no less potential manager. We 
 are here reminded of Steele's connexion with Addison, 
 " Addison, says Johnson, never considered Steele as a 
 rival ; but Steele lived, as he confesses, under an habitual 
 subjection to the predominating genius of Addison, whom 
 he always mentioned with reverence, and treated with 
 obsequiousness." 
 
 During this period of seven years and a half, Marlowe 
 produced nine plays, seven acknowledged to be his, two 
 disputed: — The Two Parts of Tamburlaine, Faustus, 
 Jew of Malta, King John, Edward II., Massacre at 
 Paris, Taming of a Shrew, and Dido ; — whilst Shaks- 
 pere produced fourteen, — Two Gentlemen of Verona, 
 Titus Andronicus, All's Well that Ends Well, Dido and 
 Mneas, Hamlet, Lovers Labour's Lost, Comedy of Errors, 
 Romeo and Juliet, Henry VI., Two Parts of The Conten- 
 tion, Richard III., Merry Wives of Windsor, and Mid- 
 summmer Night's Dream ; — besides undergoing the 
 fatigues of an actor's life, and the responsibilities of a 
 theatrical manager; and yet not overtasked; — his in- 
 tellectual powers, like the British oak, steadily increasing, 
 strengthening, and developing themselves ; assuredly his 
 was not a life of dissipation, but that of an artist devoted 
 to his profession ; truly might he say, " no more like 
 than I to Hercules," but not in Schlegel's sense; for 
 he might have added, a greater than Hercules is here. 
 
146 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Let us now examine Greene's celebrated Address in 
 the Groatsworth of Wit; — " YeSj trust them not; for 
 there is an upstart crow beautified with our feathers, 
 that, with his Tyger's heart ivrapt in a player's hyde, 
 supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse 
 as the best of you, and, being an absolute Johannes-fac- 
 totum, is in his own conceit the only Shakescene in a 
 country." There cannot be a doubt, Shakspere is 
 alluded to as the upstart crow, and there can be no 
 meaning, no force in the words parodied from a line in 
 the True Tragedy, — 
 
 " Oh, tyger's heart wrapt in a woman's hide," 
 unless that tragedy had been written by Shakspere. 
 From the phrase " beautified with our feathers " it can 
 only be inferred, Shakspere had purloined some beauti- 
 ful passages, some fine sentiments, from the works of 
 Greene and others, and had appropriated them to his 
 own vile purposes ; but Greene does not bring forward 
 any direct charge, nor adduce any instances of spoliation ; 
 therefore the whole passage may be regarded as a tissue 
 of insinuations and misrepresentations, proceeding from 
 personal animosity and wounded vanity. Besides, the 
 character of the writer should be known, and then the 
 reader may place what trust he pleases on such insinua- 
 tions unsupported by any evidence : — 
 
 " He (Marlowe) had a friend, once gay and greene. 
 Who died not long before. 
 The wofull'st wretch was ever seene. 
 
 The worst e'er woman bore." — Marlowe, vol. iii. 
 
 That the three plays, Henry VI. and the Two Parts of 
 The Contention, were really written by Shakspere, and 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 147 
 
 that he did not merely remodel them, rests on the 
 highest authority, on the testimony of a very different 
 character from Greene : — 
 
 "And there, though last not least, is Aetion ; 
 A gentler shepherd may nowhere be found. 
 Whose Muse full of high thoughts' invention. 
 Doth like himself heroically sound." — 
 
 Colin Clouts Come Home again. 
 
 It is incredible Spenser would thus have sung the 
 praises of his friend, had his merits consisted in merely 
 adding some lines and polishing up the works of others, 
 to whom decidedly the praise of " high thoughts' inven- 
 tion" would then have been due. 
 
 But that these plays were composed and not merely 
 remodelled by Shakspere, rests on still higher authority, 
 on the word of the poet himself; the concluding lines of 
 the chorus in Henry V., can have no other meaning : — 
 
 " and for tJieir sake, 
 In your fair minds let this acceptance take." 
 
 Where is the force of the plea, unless Henry VI. had 
 been written by Shakspere ? He could have appealed 
 more directly to the sympathies of the audience on 
 behalf of Henry V., by a reference to the Two Parts of 
 Henry IV. ; but his real object was to connect this series 
 from Richard II. to Henry V. with the other moiety, thus 
 forming an harmonious whole, one grand historical drama. 
 
 But far too much importance has been attached to 
 this passage in the Groatsworth of Wit ;* it seems to 
 
 * " With thee I joyne young Juvenal, that byting satyrist, that lastly 
 with me together writ a comedie. Sweet boy, might I advise thee, be 
 advised, and get not many enemies by bitter words." 
 
 The critics ajid commentators have too readily followed Malone's 
 
148 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 have been merely a temporary outburst of envy and 
 malice ; for Greene did not always write thus. In the 
 Looking-glass fm- London Marlowe is satirized as Rasni, 
 King of Nineveh. The following lines in the opening 
 speech of the play identify him with " that atheist 
 TamburlainCj or blaspheming with the mad priest of the 
 
 Ras. " Great Jewry's God, that foil'd stout Benliadad, 
 
 Could not rebate the strength that Rasni brought ; 
 For be he God in heaven, yet, viceroys, know, 
 Easni is god on earth, and none but he." 
 
 The three Kings attendant on his " royal mightiness " 
 are Shakspere and the two authors of the play, Greene 
 and Lodge. The following lines clearly prove the King 
 of CUicia to be intended for Shakspere : — 
 
 K. of Oil. " Madam, I hope you mean not for to mock me. 
 
 jilv. No, king, fair king, my meaning is to yoke thee. 
 
 Hear me but sing of love, then by my sighs. 
 My tears, my glancing looks, my changed cheer, 
 Thou shall perceive how I do hold thee dear. 
 
 K. of Cil. Your love is fixed on a greater king. 
 
 Alv. Tut, women's love it is a fickle thing. 
 
 1 love my Rasui for his dignity, 
 I love Cilician king for his sweet eye ; 
 
 opinion, that the party here alluded to, is Lodge ; but it certainly must 
 be Nash, who was often called Juvenal by the writers of that period. 
 Lodge was not in England at that time ; for Greene in the Address 
 prefixed to JBupliv£s Shadow, 1592, says, — " one M. Thomas Lodge who 
 nowe is gone to sea with mayster Candish;" besides the LooMng-glass 
 for London is no comedy, but a religious mystery ; and the lines to 
 young Juvenal are written in such a friendly spirit, they might even 
 coniinn in an angry man the suspicion of Nash's complicity in the 
 tract. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 149 
 
 I love my Rasni since he rules the world, 
 But more I love this kingly little world. 
 
 [Htnircuiea kirn. 
 How sweet he looks ! 0, were I Cynthia's fere, 
 And thou Endymion, I should hold theg dear. 
 Thus should mine arms be spread about thy neck, 
 
 [Mnbraces his neck. 
 Thus would I kiss my love at every beck ; 
 
 [Kisses him. 
 Thus would I sigh to see thee sweetly sleep, 
 And if thou waked'st not soon, thus would I weep. 
 And thus, and thus, and thus, thus muchllove thee. 
 
 [Kisses Mm. 
 K. of Cil. For all these vows beshrew me, if I prove ye : 
 
 My faith unto my king shall not be fals'd. 
 Alv. Good Lord, how men are coy when they are crav'd ! 
 
 K. of Oil. Madam, behold our king approacheth nigh. 
 Alv. Thou art Endymion, then, no more : heighho, for 
 
 him I die!" 
 
 [Faints while pointing at the King of Cilicia. 
 
 Adam, the smith's man, may possibly also be intended 
 for Shakspere; he looks like an imitation of Launce, 
 but awfally addicted to beef and ale : — 
 
 Adam. " Nay, sir, we read in tbe Chronicles that there 
 was a god of our occupation. — Marry, sir, I will stand to it, 
 that a smith in his kind is a physician, a surgeon, and a 
 barber. — I am for you ; come, let's away, and yet let me be 
 put in the Chronicles." 
 
 His thrashing his master for being jealous may be on 
 the part of Lodge, a sly rap at Greene's jealousy of 
 Shakspere. 
 
 The Looking-glass appears to have been written in 
 1591, and in imitation of Midas; for Rasni is through- 
 out treated with similar love and reverence; and we 
 seem to have the origin of the play in Midas, act fourth. 
 
150 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 scene fourth, -where Eristus and Mellacrites say, — "we will 
 all join and follow Martins/' who replies, " My lords, I 
 give you thanks;" and the expression, "Rasni is god on 
 earth," has also its counterpart in Midas, when Martius 
 says, "That greediness of Mellacrites, whose heart- 
 strings are made of Plutus' purse-strings, hath made 
 Midas a lump of earth, that should be a god on earth," 
 act two, scene one. As Martius disbelieves the oracles 
 and is portrayed as a contemner of the gods, so Rasni 
 requires the wonders and signs of the anger of God to be 
 explained by natural causes. — If then Rasni be the 
 same individual as Martius, it must be granted, the 
 King of CHicia is Shakspere. 
 
 In the Comical History of Alphonsus, King of 
 Arragon, it is within the bounds of probability, that 
 Shakspere is the Hero; Marlowe would be Belinus, 
 King of Naples ; and in Amurack the Great Turk, lord 
 over so many regions, Greene has beautifully and no 
 less truthfully painted his own discontent and jealousy. 
 When Alphonsus after slaying Flaminius, exclaims : — 
 
 " Go pack thou hence unto the Stygian lake, — 
 And if he ask thee who did send thee down, 
 Alphonsus say, who now must wear thy crown ; " 
 
 the audience would immediately remember the grand 
 
 and fearful scene in the second part of the Contention : — 
 
 " Down, down to hell and say I sent thee thither ; "* 
 
 * Who wrote this most Satanic speech ? Shakspere, G-reene, or 
 Marlowe ? Mr. Collier gives it to Greene on account of this passage in 
 Alphonsus ; Mr. Dyce to Marlowe on account of the lines : 
 " What, will the aspiring blood of Lancaster 
 Sink in the ground ? I thought it would hare mounted." 
 But may it not rather be held, these resemblances prove, the True 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 151 
 
 and thus Alphonsus, Gloster, and Shakspere would 
 be irrevocably conjoined in their minds. 
 
 " Belinus, Fabius, and the Milan Duke, fled for suc- 
 cour to the Turkish court," are Marlowe, Peele, and 
 Nash; the last named is in the Groatsworth of Wit, 
 called " Young Juvenal, sweet boy," and in the following 
 lines the three characters are clearly marked : — 
 
 Alphon. " Lord, what a pleasure was it to my mind, 
 To see Belinus, which not long before 
 Did with Ms threaterdngs terrify the gods, 
 Now scud apace from warlike Laelius' blows ! 
 The Duke of Milan, he increas'd our sport, 
 When doubting that his force was over-weak, 
 For to withstand, MUes, thy sturdy arm. 
 Did give more credence to his frisking skips 
 Thau to tlie sharpness of his cutting blade. 
 What Pabius did to pleasure us withal, 
 Albinius knows as well as I myself." — 
 
 Act iii, scene 1. 
 Albiuius is no doubt Lyly : — 
 
 Alphon, " Now to Albinius, which in all my toils 
 
 I have both faithful, yea, and friendly, found." 
 
 Alphonsushas also two other warriors on his side, Lselius 
 and Miles ; these may be the two other playwrights 
 mentioned in the Groatsworth of Wit, of whom Greene 
 says, '' let their own work serve to witness against their 
 own wickedness, if they persevere to maintain any more 
 such peasants;" but whoever these two may have been, 
 it is certain Miles and Laelius are very appropriate 
 names for Kyd and Lodge; the little Jeronymo giving 
 
 Tragedie, or third part of Senry VI, was written by Shakspere, and 
 brought out at least several months before either King Alphonms or 
 JBdward the Second. 
 
152 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Master Nash a good drubbing, and the religious Lodge 
 castigating the irreligious Marlowe. Lodge was not 
 only Greene's friend, but appears to have been warmly 
 attached to Shakspere, and is here named after Laelius, 
 the intimate friend of Scipio Africanus. Peele is pro- 
 bably named Fabius after the great general, who derided 
 Scipio's idea of carrying the war into Africa. Peele is 
 also said to have been jealous of Shakspere. In these 
 names, Fabius and Laelius, Greene evidently intends a 
 most graceful and flattering compliment to Shakspere as 
 Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Zama. 
 
 The invocation of Medea, — Iphigena daughter of 
 Amurack the great Turk, — Faustus his Empress, — and 
 a Faustus, king of Babylon ! — what a strange and un- 
 meaning jumble of names, unless they are intended to 
 remind us of Shakspere and Marlowe; — further evi- 
 dence that the ignorant William had read the Greek 
 dramatists ; and again, Amurack encouraging his troops 
 thus significantly speaks : — 
 
 " Besides the same, remember with yourselves 
 What foes we have ; not mighty Tamburlaine, 
 Nor soldiers trained up amongst the wars, 
 But fearful boors, pick'U from their rural flock. 
 Which, till this time, were wholly ignorant 
 What weapons meant, or bloody Mars did crave." — 
 
 Act iv. 
 
 How applicable are these lines to Shakspere's want of an 
 University education; and by "fearful boors" we are re- 
 minded of " such peasants" as Shakspere, Burbage, & Co. 
 
 By the overthrow of Amurack, and the marriage of 
 Alphonsus with Iphigena, and his succession to the 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 153 
 
 empire, Greene acknowledges the superiority of Shaks- 
 pere as a poet ; whether he intended in the Second Part, 
 had such been written, to portray Alphonsus as a beni- 
 ficent monarch, or as an universal tyrant, may be pro- 
 blematical ; but the continuation appeared in a very 
 unexpected form, the hero being a Johannes-factoturh, 
 and the only Shakescene in the country. 
 
 From the examination of these plays it may be 
 inferred, that Greene, like Lyly, took an ardent interest 
 in the early career of Shakspere ; but being himself a 
 gifted poet of most varied powers, he could not, without 
 a pang, see the diadem wrested from his brow. 
 
 Let us turn back for a few minutes to Lov^s Labour's 
 Lost ; it has been shown, that Biron, Armado, and Sir 
 Nathaniel, are Shakspere, Marlowe, and Lyly; the three 
 remaining characters (sonnetteers and poets), Ferdinand, 
 king of Navarre, Longaville, and Dumain, must conse- 
 quently be Greene, Lodge, and Peelej whilst Moth is a 
 most happy and delightful personation of that "sweet 
 boy," Nash; who was called Juvenal, not merely after 
 the Roman satirist, but from his youthful appearance, as 
 in Pierce Penniless he speaks of his " beardless years," 
 being then in his twenty-fifth year, and the following 
 lines may have given rise to the name : — 
 
 Arm. " How canst thou part sadness and melancholy, my 
 tender juvenal? 
 
 Moth. By a familiar demonstration of the working, my 
 tough senior. 
 
 Arm. Why tough senior ? why tough senior ? 
 Moth. Why tender juvenal? why tender juvenal? 
 Arm. I spoke it, tender juvenal, &c." — 
 
 Act i., scene 3. 
 h2 
 
154 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 We thus see that Shakspere, in the joy of his heart 
 at the success of Hamlet, immediately sought to be re- 
 conciled with his old friends ; and that this comedy, so 
 popular in its own day, and still the universal favourite 
 of youth, was the offspring of his generous feelings, a 
 photographic picture, the sunshine of life, a picnic on a 
 summer^s day. As Nash in the Anatomie of Absurditie, 
 published in 1589, abuses Greene as the "Homer of 
 women, &c.," it follows, that the celebrated epistle pre- 
 fixed to Menaphon must have appeared in the early part 
 of the year, and have preceded Lovers Labou-r's Lost. 
 
 It becomes also highly probable, that Orlando 
 Furioso was an earlier satire on Marlowe, and that 
 Sacripant, his cunning and formidable foe, was intended 
 for Nash. Nor is it at all improbable, the comedy lastly 
 written by Greene and young Juvenal was the continua- 
 tion of the Comical History of Alphonsus, beyond doubt 
 a satirical production and — pity 'tis, 'tis lost. 
 
 After this long excursion with Nash, Marlowe, and 
 Greene, it is about time to see after our pleasant Willy, 
 whom we left, if I remember correctly, in a fix, uncer- 
 tain whether he were Falstaff or Midas. But before 
 proceeding on with the plays, we must first take a look 
 at the sonnets. The joke in the Merry Wives of 
 Windsor at Marlowe's expense, " three German devils, 
 three Doctor Paustus's," is very significant. 
 
 In the " Sonnets * re-arranged," I have pointed out, 
 
 * Valuable evidence in support of the opinion, the Sonnets were an 
 early production, is the fact, that all the parallel passages in Mr. 
 Staunton's edition, are quoted from the early plays, as Lovers Lahour^s 
 Lost, Eomeo and Juliet, Eewry VI., and Merchant of Venice. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 
 
 155 
 
 that Marlowe is aUuded to in the line, "Was it the 
 proud full sail of his great verse/' and that he was also 
 "the better spirit/' and that Mephistophiles is the 
 " affable familiar ghost." The probability, that this ex- 
 planation is the correct one, may be readily seen by 
 reference to the Tragical History of Dr. Faustus : — 
 
 Faust, " Go, and return to miglity Lucifer, 
 
 And meet me in my study at midnight. 
 Is't not midnight ? — come, Mephistophilis, 
 Veni, veni, MephistopTiile !" 
 
 [Enter Lucifek, Belzebub and Mephistophilis.] 
 
 Luc. " Do so, and we will highly gratify thee. 
 Faustus, we are come from hell to show thee some pastime. 
 Now, Faustus, how dost thou like this ? 
 
 Faust. Oh, this feeds my soul ! 
 
 Luc. Tut, Faustus ! in heU is all manner of delight. 
 
 Faust. Oh, might I see hell, and return again. How 
 happy were I then ! 
 
 Luc. Thou shalt ; I will send for thee at midnight. 
 
 C. of Lor. My lord, it may he some ghost, newly crept out 
 of Purgatory, come to beg a pardon of your Hohness. 
 
 Pope. It may be so. — Friars, prepare a dirge to lay the 
 fury of this ghost. 
 
 Fmp. They say thou hast a familiar spirit, by whom 
 thou canst accomplish what thou list." 
 
 It therefore appears that ten sonnets, forming together 
 one epistle, are written in good-humoured ridicule of 
 Marlowe, as Tamburlaine and Faustus, the two nick- 
 names by which he was generally known. " Oh, how I 
 faint," like a sentimental young lady in hysterics, is 
 either a quizzical expression or else a very weak one, 
 worthy of the Hamlet of Goethe and Coleridge. But 
 
156 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 the critics and commentators have taken a very different 
 view of these sonnets. Thus writes Mr. Boaden : — 
 
 "The Sonnets not only aUude distinctly to Daniel (as 
 the better spirit), hut very critically point out some 
 other retainers of the Pembroke family. The poet 
 hardly preserves his temper when describing the combi- 
 nation against him : 
 
 " Was it his spirit, by spirits taught to write 
 Above a mortal pitch, that struck me dead ? 
 No ! neither he, nor his compeers, by night 
 Giving him aid, my verse astonished. 
 He, nor that affable familiar ghost. 
 Which nightly gulls Mm with intelligence. 
 As victors, of my silence cannot boast." 
 
 " Alluding, perhaps," says Mr. Stevens, " to the cele- 
 brated Dr. Dee's pretended intercourse with an angel 
 and other familiar spirits." There can be no doubt 
 about it — the fact is upon record. Queen Elizabeth 
 and the Pembroke family were Dee's chief patrons. 
 Their exalted minds and various accomplishments did 
 not exempt them from the mania of their timeSj though 
 the soiinder philosophy of Shakspere led him thus to 
 denounce the Charlatans, who then infested the great, 
 and upon fantastical science grounded predictionSj which 
 hung like a mildew upon a long existence. — On the 
 Sonnets of Shakspere. 
 
 And this is the sort of erudite and illogical stuff that 
 persuaded Hallam, and nearly all the intellects of 
 Britain — even Rab himself, that sagacious Scotch dog — 
 to believe that the healthy, jocular, and satirical Shaks- 
 pere wrote, in his thirty-fifth year, maudlin sentimen- 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 157 
 
 tality to a profligate young nobleman in his nineteenth 
 year. 
 
 I have pointed out in the Introduction to the " Son- 
 nets re-arranged" that Shakspere became acquainted 
 with the Earl of Southampton in 1589, and for several 
 years watched over him like a guardian; that in Oc- 
 tober, 1591, he addressed to him a comic-heroic poem, 
 and that the couplets, promising immortality to his 
 friend, are merely a cheerful refrain to prevent the poem 
 degenerating into a monotonous and adulatory strain. 
 I have also shown, they were collected together by 
 William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, and given to 
 Thomas Thorpe for publication. 
 
 Although there are several editions of Shakspere's 
 Poems, yet it is to the Sonnets, I imagine, they owe 
 their principal attraction, since the Venus and Adonis 
 abounds rather too freely with lascivious descriptions, 
 and the Lucrece is such a " crabbed and quaint produc- 
 tion," it is no easy matter to work through it ; whilsj. 
 the Sonnets in richness of imagery and mellifluous 
 versification rival the Venits and Adonis without its 
 indelicacy; and, full of tenderness and noble thoughts, 
 they abound in the moral and poetical beauties of the 
 Lucrece, without its dryness ; I therefore ventured to lay 
 before the public a new edition of the Sonnets, arranged 
 on a plan never yet attempted, and apparently never 
 thought of, viz : — to select and re-arrange (not to re- 
 divide, but to re-sort) the little poems, which are evidently 
 addressed to his friend; and which, thus re-arranged, 
 form a clear and connected history; further, from the 
 first '126' are ejected those, which are addressed to a 
 
158 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 female J by this simple process the Sonnets have been 
 removed from cloud-land^ and restored to the domain of 
 healthy literature, making a very pleasant and readable 
 book, highly interesting and autobiographical. 
 
 But the most interesting feature in the Sonnets is the 
 evidence, that Shakspere had formed a very close inti- 
 macy with a dark -haired lady, apparently of about twelve 
 months' duration, from the summer of 1592, to the 
 summer of 1593, aud which then came to an abrupt end 
 by the amorous tigress transferring her caresses to his 
 friend, the young Earl of Southampton. She must have 
 been an Italian, of some rank, the wife of one of the 
 merchant princes of Venice at least, or the Ambassadress 
 herself, if not the wife of an English nobleman. That 
 she was an Italian may be inferred from the fact, that in 
 all his plays after this period, Shakspere shows such an 
 intimate acquaintance with the manners and customs of 
 Italy, as to have given rise to the supposition, he had 
 visited Italy j but in truth his Italy was a lady with 
 raven-black eyes. Now it is very remarkable, there are 
 three dark ladies in the plays, Hermia, Katharine, and 
 Cleopatra, three black witches, equally ready with their 
 fists, like the lady in the Sonnets, who had decidedly a 
 will of her own ; that she stood as the original of the 
 other three cannot be doubted. 
 
 This lady, with her black and mourning eyes and a 
 will of her own, reminds us of Byron's two Venetian 
 loves ; — Marianna, with " the large black oriental eyes 
 with that peculiar expression in them, which is seen 
 rarely among Europeans ; " — Margarita, " very fine black 
 eyes, a thorough Venetian, with all their naivete and 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 159 
 
 pantaloon humour^ and a devilish spirit of some sort 
 ■vvithin her." The duration of Shakspeare's actual en- 
 chantment reminds us, that the wisest of the Greeks, 
 Ulysses, remained a whole year under the Circean spell. 
 
 As the Midsummer Night's Dream and the Merry 
 Wives of Windsor were both written about the same 
 time and under similar circumstances, they should be 
 examined and compared together with reference to the 
 passages, which may be considered, rightly or wrongly, 
 applicable to Shakspere. 
 
 The following lines in the Midsummer Night's Dream 
 have frequently been adduced as evidence, that the poet 
 had made an unfortunate marriage :— 
 
 L^/s. " Ah me ! for aught that ever I could read, 
 Could ever hear by tale or history, 
 The course of true love never did run smooth : 
 But, either it was different in blood ; — 
 
 Her. O cross ! too high to be enthrall'd to low ! 
 
 Zfi/s. Or else misgraffed, in respect of years ; — 
 
 Her. O spite ! too old to be engag'd to young ! 
 
 Li/s. Or else it stood upon the choice of friends ; — 
 
 Her. hell ; to choose love by another's eye ! 
 
 Ia/s. Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, 
 
 War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it." — 
 
 Act i. scene 1. 
 
 How do these lines affect Shakspere ? they are merely 
 the usual complaint of lovers contraried by their parents ; 
 " misgraffed in respect of years " is the only unfavorable 
 expression, all the rest actually confirm the supposition 
 
160 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 of his domestic happiness ; for it is universally grantedj 
 he married for love, and apparently without asking per- 
 mission either of fidends or parents. These lines then, 
 though so often quoted, are no proof Shakspere lived 
 unhappily with his wife ; nor is there any evidence or 
 tradition, that she ever lost his affection; though for 
 a time he laboured under a delusion, under the fascina- 
 tion of an extraordinary woman. The story of his 
 domestic infelicity was first started something more than 
 a century ago, by Oldys misinterpreting one of the 
 Sonnets. 
 
 Another passage in this comedy is supposed to contain 
 an allusion to Greene : — 
 
 L^fs. [reads] " The battle with the Centaui's' to be sung 
 
 By an A.thenian eunuch to the hai-p. 
 The. We'll none of that : that have I told my love. 
 
 In glory of my kinsman Hercules. 
 Zys. The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals 
 
 Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage. 
 The. That is an old device, and it was play'd 
 
 When I from Thebes came last a conqueror. 
 Xys. The thrice three Muses mourning for the death 
 
 Of learning, late deceas'd in beggary. 
 T/ie. That is some satire, keen, and critical. 
 
 Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony." — Act v., scene 1. 
 
 The "learning late deceas'd in beggary," Mr. C. Knight 
 observes, refers to the death of the poet Greene, and 
 " some satire keen and critical," to the famous contro- 
 versy of Nash and Gabriel Hai-vey. But let us follow 
 up the scent, trace the fox to his hole, and unearth him ; 
 — surely the Thracian singer can be no other than Shaks- 
 pere himself; and how appositely does Mr. Ignorance 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 161 
 
 speak through Theseus, " it's an old story, played after 
 my return from Thebes as conqueror," — after Hamlet ; 
 — and the Athenian eunuch must be Chettle, the editor, 
 who omitted some offensive passages in Greene's Groats- 
 worth of Wit. 
 
 Furthermore, can there be any reasonable doubt, that 
 the beautiful lines on " the imperial votaress in maiden 
 meditation fancy-free " were written after the Merry 
 Wives of Windsor, and are Endymion's thanks for 
 Cynthia's kiss ? 
 
 It must then he confessed, there are in this Dream 
 three passages of a decidedly personal nature ; and those 
 critics, who consider the first, as proof of his unhappy 
 marriage, must for the sake of consistency, acknowledge, 
 Hermia is the lady of the Sonnets ; and who is Lysander ? 
 like Valentine, he is " a gentleman and well deriv'd ; " 
 his friend Demetrius is certainly Marlowe. Demetrius 
 comes upon us at first as a swaggerer, is spoken of as a 
 coward, and is the only character that uses high-flown 
 language ; the lines addressed to Helen, are essentially 
 Marlovian : 
 
 " The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me. 
 Thou told'st me, they were stol'ii into this wood. 
 And here am I, and wood (wild) within this wood." 
 
 " Yet, you, the murderer, look as bright, as clear. 
 As yonder Venus in her glimmering sphere." 
 
 " Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine ! 
 To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne ! 
 Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show 
 Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow ! 
 That pure congealed white, high Taurus snow, 
 Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow, 
 
162 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 When thou hold'st up thy hand ; O let me kiss 
 This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss ! " 
 Tuck. " Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars. 
 Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars. 
 And will not come ? Come, recreant ; come, thou ciild ; 
 I'U whip thee with a rod ; he is defil'd 
 That draws a sword on thee ! 
 Ho, ho ! ho, ho ! Coward why com'st thou not ? " 
 
 To Lysander Puck merely calls out : — 
 " Here vUlain ; drawn and ready. Where art thou ? " 
 
 But say the critics, Demetrius is a punster, and Mar- 
 lowe was a learned man, with no wit or humour in him. 
 " Soft you now," softly there, my friends ! in Tamhur- 
 laine and Faustus there is not a single pun or quibble, 
 except some few amongst the clowns, probably borrowed 
 from the common stock of clownage ; but in the Jew of 
 Malta a change comes o'er the scene, and to the great 
 amusement of Shakspere and Lyly, Marlowe, by friction 
 with such sharp blades, becomes a wit, and so Demetrius 
 puns : — 
 
 " Haply some hapless man hath conscience." 
 " Give me a ream of paper ; we'll have a kingdom 
 Of gold for't."— 2%e Jew of Malta. 
 
 realm was frequently written ream, says Mr. Dyce. Other 
 quibbles may be found, and particularly in Edward II. 
 
 There is also in this Dream an allusion to Lyly, at least 
 a reminiscence of him ; 'Bottom says, " I see their 
 knavery ; this is to make an ass of me ; " he then sings 
 a song evidently a paraphrase of the bird-song in 
 Campaspe, ending with the note of the cuckoo. And 
 who can say, sweet bully Bottom with his ass's head is 
 not a burlesque of the poet himself, as Midas ; 'tis evident 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 163 
 
 Shakspere delighted in the joke, and roars over it like a 
 sucking-dovej an ■'twere any nightingale ; besides. Bottom 
 " is as well able to bombast out a blank- verse as the best 
 of you, and being an absolute Johannes-fac-totum, is in 
 his own conceit the only Shakescene ia the play ;' '' and 
 when Bottom says, — " my chief humour is for a tyrant : 
 I could play Ercles rarely; — This is Ercles^ vein, a 
 tyrant^s vein," — is it not an allusion to the Groatsworth 
 of Wit, where the player recounts to Roberto how he 
 had "terribly thundered" the Twelve Labours of 
 Hercules. 
 
 Do we not then see in " the jealous Oberon" a divine 
 translation of Greene, the poet's forgiveness in the 
 apotheosis of his early friend, and the Blackfriars 
 Company in : — 
 
 " A crew of patches, rude mechanicals, 
 That work for bread upon Athenian staUs, 
 Were met together to rehearse a play. 
 Intended for great Theseus' nuptial day. 
 The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort, 
 Who Pyramus presented in their sport, 
 Forsook his scene and enter'd in a brake : 
 When I did him at this advantage take, 
 An ass's nowl I fixed on his head. 
 When in that moment [so it came to pass] 
 Titania wak'd, and straightway lov'd an ass." 
 
 As Titania is another name for Diana or Cynthia, may 
 not the last line refer to the high favour Shakspere was 
 in at court at that time. 
 
 Do we not also see in Puck the poet's forgiveness of 
 Nash ; has not Nash repented, has he not humbly sued 
 for pardon : — 
 
164' THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 " Without redvesse complaynes my carelesse verse. 
 And Midas ears relent not at my moane ; " 
 
 and did he not at Christmas indignantly call the Groats- 
 worth of Wit " a scald, trivial, lying pamphlet," and shall 
 not Valentine forgive : — 
 
 " Who by repentance is not satisfied. 
 Is nor of heaven nor earth." 
 
 and really Nash appears to be very appositely represented 
 by Puck, " that shrewd and knavish sprite ; " for there 
 seems more a love of mischief than maliciousness in his 
 remarks against his friends in the epistle prefixed to 
 Astrophel ; and it should not be overlooked. Puck here 
 holds the same relative position to Oberon, as DeUo to 
 Motto, and Nash to Greene. 
 
 That Greene and Nash are aimed at in Oberon and 
 Puck cannot be doubted ; it is made certain by the fact, 
 that the comedy was written soon after the publication 
 of Greene's tract, and Shakspere replies to his unjust 
 charges through Titania : — 
 
 Tita. "These are the forgeries of jealousy; 
 
 And never, since the middle summer's spring. 
 
 Met we on hill, in dale — 
 
 But with thy brawls thou hast disturbd our sport." 
 
 It has been suggested, this comedy Avas composed as 
 an allegorical pageant in celebration of some nobleman's 
 marriage ; be that as it may, 'tis certain, — Theseus and 
 Hippolyta dance attendance on the squabbles of a set of 
 strolling vagabonds ; — such is the raw material, out of 
 which the enchanter has weaved this finest of gossamer 
 webs. 
 
 As allusion has already been made to the fail- vestal 
 
OP SHAKSPEKE. 165 
 
 throned by tlie westj it is now time to take a peep at the 
 Vision of Oberon . — 
 
 Obe. " My gentle Puck, come hither. Thou rememberest. 
 Since once 1 sat upon a promontory, 
 And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back, 
 Uttering such dulcet, and harmonious breath, 
 That the rude sea grew civil at her song ; 
 And certain stars shot madly from their spheres. 
 To hear the sea-maid's music. 
 
 Puck. 1 remember. 
 
 Obe. That very time I saw — but thou couldst not — 
 Flying between the cold moon and the earth, 
 Cupid all-armed ; a certain aim he took 
 At a fair Vestal, throned by the West, 
 And loosed a love-shaft smartly from his bow. 
 As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts ; 
 But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft 
 Quench'd in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon. 
 And the Imperial Votaress passed on. 
 In maiden-meditation, fancy-free. 
 Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell : 
 It fell upon a little western flower, — 
 Before, milk-white ; now purple with Love's wound, — 
 And maidens call it Love-in-idleness." 
 
 According to Warburton, the mermaid is Mary, Queen 
 of Scots ; by the dolphin is denoted her marriage with 
 the Dauphin of France ; and by " certain stars " are 
 meant certain English nobles, who fell in her quarrel. 
 
 According to Mr. Boaden the first part of the Vision 
 refers to the pageantry at Kenil worth, where there was 
 a mermaid, also a dolphin with a band of music in its 
 stomach, but not with a mermaid on its back, and the 
 stars are the fireworks ; and he considers the little western 
 flower to be Amy Robsart; but the Reverend Mr. 
 
166 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Halpin, though agreeing with Boaden as to the mermaid, 
 the dolphin, and stars, considers the little flower to be 
 the Countess of Essex, and further, that Cupid is the 
 Earl of Leicester, the moon. Queen Elizabeth, and the 
 earth, the Countess of Sheffield ; — he also gives a similar 
 interpretation to Lyly's comedy of Endymion. All the 
 commentators appear to be divided between these three 
 interpretations, with variations; Mr. Hunter considers 
 Cupid's shaft as aimed at the Duke of Anjou. 
 
 But if Warburton's explanation is now generally 
 rejected, as being highly offensive to Queeu Elizabeth, 
 and no less so to the memory of the poet ; the other solu- 
 tion is only less objectionable, because it is less offensive. 
 
 On examining this celebrated passage we find it 
 divided into two parts, into two allegories, totally dis- 
 tinct, connected only by time ; and that, whilst the 
 second image is purely classical, the first is Elizabethan, 
 that is according to the pageants of those days, and 
 must have been " perfectly intelligible to contemporary 
 ears." As the poet's intention is to offer a compliment, 
 a poetical tribute to the Queen, perhaps for some 
 gracious favour received, all the allusions and images 
 would be of a pleasing nature, gratifying to the feelings 
 of his royal Mistress ; he would never dream of pre- 
 senting to her the ghastly head of Queen Mary, nor the 
 heads of her rebellious nobles, nor the bleeding heart of 
 an Amy Robsart ; all the allusions must be readily com- 
 prehended, and agreeable to a Loudon audience, neither 
 play nor allegory having been written to puzzle the 
 brains of the learned ; as the pleasures of Kenilworth 
 had occurred more than seventeen years ago, they must 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 167 
 
 have been forgotten, if ever known to the Londoners ; 
 and though the visit of the Duke of Anjou occurred only 
 eleven years ago, and must have been well remembered 
 by a London audience, yet it was highly distasteful to the 
 nation ; consequently Cupid's shaft can refer neither to 
 the Duke of Anjou nor to the Earl of Leicester. How 
 then is the allegory to be explained ? who is the mer- 
 maid ? evidently no com.mon being/she rules the waves, 
 and stars shoot from their spheres to listen to her 
 song. Perhaps as there is a sort of free-maisonry in the 
 poetical academe, Byron can assist us : in the Hall of 
 Arimanes the spirits thus hymn forth ; — 
 
 " in his hand 
 The sceptre of the elements, which tear 
 
 Themselves to chaos at his high command ! 
 He breatheth — and a tempest shakes the sea ; " 
 but at the dulcet and harmonious breath of the sea- 
 maid, of the Virgin Queen, "the rude sea grew civil;" 
 and " certain stars shot madly from their spheres " can 
 only mean the suitors of the beautiful young Queen, 
 "mad for thy love," Elizabeth.* 
 
 Oberon, seated on a promontory, sees on a dolphin's 
 back a mermaid, the mistress of the sea, the waves obedient 
 to her high command, — an image not very unintelligible 
 to modern Britons, and perhaps some can remember 
 seeing: — 
 
 " Flying between the cold moon and the earth, 
 Cupid all-arm'd ; a certain aim he took 
 
 * " She was a lady of great beauty, of decent stature, and of an ex- 
 cellent shape. In her youth she was adorned with a more than usual 
 maiden modesty ; her skin was of pure white, and her hair of a yellow 
 colour, her eyes were beautiful and lively." — ISohurCs Character of Queen 
 Mlizabeth, 
 
168 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 At a fail- Vestal, throned by the West, 
 
 And loosed a love-shaft smartly from his bow. 
 
 As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts ; 
 
 And deep into the maiden's heart it pierc'd. 
 
 But Hymen heal'd the wound ; and from the blood 
 
 That fell, sprang many a sweet and lovely flower, 
 
 A German Lily, and an English Eose, 
 
 The expectancy and rose of the fair state." 
 
 Thus the mermaid is Queen Elizabeth seated on her 
 thronCj seated in the affections of her people, and England 
 is the dolphin ; consequently, these beautiful lines form 
 two lo Paeans to the praise and glory of Cynthia, recall- 
 ing to her mind the happy days of the first year of her 
 reign. 
 
 But what does Oberon mean by saying : — 
 
 " That very time I saw — but thou could'st not ; " 
 Does he not class Puck on a level with himself, when he 
 says : — 
 
 " But we are spirits of another sort : 
 I with the morning's love have oft made sport ; " — 
 
 Act iii., scene 2. 
 Oho ! do you mark that ? a rat, dead for a ducat, dead ! 
 " We won't go home 'till morning. 
 Till daylight doth appear; " — 
 
 Hymn to Bacchus. 
 
 Nash was bom in 1567, and Greene must have been 
 in 1558, at least five or six years old ; — therefore Puck 
 could not, but Oberon did see the first year of the 
 Queen's reign ; — after this, it must be granted, Oberon 
 and Puck are Greene and Nash, and that Shakspere 
 knows how to forgive. 
 
 It is perhaps scarcely necessary to mention, that 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 169 
 
 Shakspere constantly gives a pleasing signification to 
 the word mermaid, using it synonymously with siren, 
 which is still retained in a complimentary sense, though 
 the other has disappeared with the pageants : — 
 
 Ant. S. " O, train me not, sweet mermaid, with tliy note, 
 To drown me in thy sister's flood of tears ; 
 Sing, siren, for thyself, and I wOl dote : 
 
 Spread o'er the silver waves thy golden hairs. 
 And as a bride* I'll take thee and there lie." — 
 Comedy of 3rrors^ act iii., scene 2. 
 Eno. " Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides, 
 
 So many seamaids,^ tended her i' the eyes. 
 And made their bends adornings : at the helm 
 A seeming Mermaid steers." — 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra, act ii., scene 3. 
 
 As the Midsummer-NighVs Dream and Marlowe's 
 Taming of a Shrew were written at the same time and 
 
 * The beauty and appropriateness of this image cannot be fuUj' 
 understood unless the reader is aware, that " brides formerly walked to 
 church with their hair hanging loose behind. Anne BuUen's was thus 
 dishevelled, when she went to the altar with Xiug Henry VIII. ; " and 
 at the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth with the Palsgrave, "the bride 
 came into the chapel with a coronet of pearl on her head, and her hair 
 dishevelled and hanging down over her shoulders." As Mr. Staunton 
 says, " for hride I am responsible," we presume it is another of his 
 happy suggestions. 
 
 + The usual reading, mermaids, is evidently a misprint, probably 
 caused by the eye confusing seamaids with the seeming mermaid under- 
 neath. The Nereides were not miermaids in the strict sense ; " they are 
 commonly represented as young and handsome virgins;" — "in worts 
 of art as youthful and beautiful maidens;" — but "sometimes as half 
 woman and half fish ; " — Thetis, the mother of Achilles, it may be pre- 
 sumed, was not one of the latter class. These Unes may be regarded as 
 further evidence of Shakspere's thorough knowledge of classical mytho- 
 logy. — " Tended, Tier S the eyes" that is, about her person ; had Antony 
 and Warburton been her handmaids, they would, no doubt, have made 
 their bends ad,orings. 
 
170 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 on the same subject, a vixen and a shrew; however 
 erroneous the opinion may be regarded, it is possible the 
 origin of both was some trivial misunderstanding at a 
 pic-nic, when the lady exhibited unequivocal signs of a 
 shrewish disposition; and the two poets afterwards 
 agreed each to write a comedy on the occasion : — 
 
 " And in the wood, a league without the town, 
 Where I did meet thee once with Helena 
 To do observance to a morn of May, 
 There wOl I stay for thee." 
 
 As the interlude of Pyramus and Thisbe in the 
 Midsummer-Niffht's Dream is a travestie of Romeo and 
 Juliet, there must be some link, some intimate connexion 
 between the comedy and tragedy ; and it is highly pro- 
 bable, a natural supposition, that Shakspere, in the 
 earlier stages of their acquaintance, with his dramatic 
 eye saw through the. heart of the Italian lady, and 
 painted her as Juliet, the child of instinct and passion. 
 And as the first part of Henry VI. was written about 
 the same period, it follows, as a reasonable inference, 
 this lady stood for Margaret of Anjou ; the words are 
 very remarkable : — 
 
 Mar. " Wilt thou accept of ransom, yea or no ? 
 Suf. Eond man ! remember that thou hast a wife ; 
 
 Then how can Margaret be thy paramour. [aside. 
 Mar. I were best to leave him, for he will not hear. 
 Suf. There all is marr'd ; there lies a cooling card. 
 Mar. He talks at random ; sure the man is mad. 
 Suf. And yet a dispensation may be had. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 171 
 
 Mar. And yet I would that you would answer me. 
 Buf. I'll win this lady Margaret. For whom ? 
 
 Why, for my king : Tush ! that's a wooden thing. 
 Mar. He talks of wood ; it is some carpenter." 
 
 The Lady then plays the asides in her turn, thereby 
 showing she has something of the " infinite variety " of 
 Cleopatra : — 
 
 Suf. " Lady, wherefore talk you so ? 
 
 Mar. I cry you mercy, 'tis but quid for qtio." 
 
 Mrst Fart of Henry VI., act v., scene 3. 
 
 "We thus see, the lady of the Sonnets is the type of so 
 many female characters; the wool, out of which were 
 spun so many yams, Juliet, Hermia, Katharine, Mar- 
 garet of Anjou, and Cleopatra, all evidently sisters, 
 daughters of one mother. And we also see how Shaks- 
 pere, forgetting his butterfly character, thoughtlessly, 
 like a moth hovering around the flame of a candle, 
 singes his wings and falls — a victim to high art, the 
 looking too curiously into one female heart. 
 
 To this list must be added Rosaline in Love's Labour's 
 Lost, since BLron's description of his love is almost a 
 transcript from the Sonnets ; and the following passage 
 proves that the twenty-first Sonnet, edition 1609, was 
 addressed to a lady, and was not a piece of silly senti- 
 mentalism addressed to a young nobleman : — 
 
 Biron. " Lend me the flourish of all gentle tongues, — 
 Fye, painted rhetoric ! O, she needs it not. 
 To things of sale a seller's praise belongs ; 
 She passes praise." — 
 
 Love's Labour's Lost, act iv., scene 3. 
 " Let them say more that like of hear-say well ; 
 I will not praise, that purpose not to sell." — 
 
 Sonnet 106, ed. 1859. 
 
172 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 It may then be conjectured, Shakspere was presented 
 to this Italian lady early in 1589^ as the successful play- 
 wright of Hamlet ; that during the next three years he 
 had, on several occasions as author or manager, the 
 honour of a few gracious words from her ladyship ; but 
 she unfortunately, on recognizing herself as Juliet, ap- 
 propriated or misapplied to herself the passionate utter- 
 ances of Romeo; and, yielding her heart to the soft 
 delusion, began taking a warmer interest in the author ; 
 although hCj on his side, had been merely dramatizing 
 his poetical imaginings ; and if in Henry VI. Shakspere 
 is really speaking through Suffolk, there cannot be a 
 doubt, though Suffolk be violently smitten, the poet's 
 heart remains untouched. Mr. Lewis, in his Life of 
 Goethe, speaking of the image of Frideiika being 
 banished by Charlotte Buff, says, "It was an imagi- 
 native passion, in which the poet was more implicated 
 than the man. Lotte excited his imagination, the 
 romance of his position heightened the charm by giving 
 an unconscious security to his feelings j" she was be- 
 trothed to Kestner. How much more forcibly do 
 these remarks apply to Shakspere, spealdng through 
 Suffolk :— 
 
 " Fond man ! remember that thou hast a wife ;" 
 and especially when Suffolk at the royal conference 
 further observes : — 
 
 Suf. " Marriage is a matter of more worth, 
 Than to be dealt in by attorneyship ; 
 Not whom he will, but whom his grace affects, 
 Must be companion of his nuptial bed : 
 And therefore, lords, since he affects her most. 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 173 
 
 It most of all these reasons bindeth us, 
 In our opinions she should be preferr'd. 
 For what is wedlock forced, but a hell. 
 An age of discord and continual strife ? 
 Whereas the contrary briugeth forth bliss. 
 And is a pattern of celestial peace." — 
 
 Henry VI., act v., scene 5. 
 
 It is a singular circumstance, that whilst the pesti- 
 lence was desolating England in 1593 and '93, the moral 
 plague was also, hawk-like, tiring on the soul of the 
 noblest of her sons. It is also singular, that whilst in 
 1588 all the bravest hearts in England, though resolute 
 to do their duty, must have felt anxious about the 
 coming contest, Shakspere also was oppressed with 
 anxiety, but energetically trained himself for his con- 
 test, the crisis of his poetical career ; and England and 
 her spiritual incarnation were each triumphant in the 
 destruction of the Armada and the success of Hamlet. 
 But it is, perhaps, stiU more singular, that Shakspere in 
 his twenty-ninth year should have written the Venus 
 and Adonis as a moral epistle ; the intention was good, 
 though the means were bad ; and Providence, it seems, 
 treated him accordingly, meting out to him a reward 
 and punishment in accordance with his matter and his 
 meaning ; he lost, though sore was the trial, his plague, 
 his fancy-love; but was rewarded by a return to a 
 healthy state of his moral and religious nature. Just 
 one hundred and ten years after, a similar obliquity of 
 vision occurred in another intellectual giant, when Swift 
 wrote a Tale of a Tub, of which it is said, " there 
 cannot be a doubt, that Swift thought this performance 
 calculated to serve the Church of England." That the 
 
174 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Venus and Adonis was written at this period, and for a 
 special purpose, may be surmised from the alteration of 
 the catastrophe, since Stevens remarks, the common 
 and more pleasing fable assures us : — 
 
 " When bright Venus yielded up her charms, 
 The blest Adonis languish'd in her arms." 
 
 Shakspere's history during the next sis months, the 
 summer and autumn of 1593, is most legibly told in 
 the Sonnets. It is evident from the following extracts, 
 vide Sonnets re-arranged, the poet's conscience has 
 awakened to the errors of his own conduct, although he 
 still believes in the innocence of his friend; whose 
 morals, however, have already been sapped by the corrupt 
 society of Marlowe, and by the glowing stanzas of the 
 Venus and Adonis : — 
 
 " With mine own weakness being best acquainted, 
 Upon thy part I can set down a story 
 Of faults conceal'd, wherein I am attainted, 
 
 That thou, in losing me, shall win much glory." — 
 
 Sonnet 66. 
 " Ah ! do not, when my heart hath 'scaped this sorrow 
 Come in the rearward of a conquer'd woe." — 
 
 Sonnet 68. 
 " Ah ! wherefore with infection should he live. 
 And with his presence grace impiety." — 
 
 Sonnet 73. 
 
 And in the 86th he earnestly appeals to his friend, 
 now become a roue and sowing his wild oats, to reform 
 and sin no more : — 
 
 " But do not so ; I love thee in such sort. 
 As thou being mine, mine is thy good report." 
 
or SHAKISPERE. 175 
 
 In the autumn of this year, 1593, Shakspere wrote 
 Edward III. The allusion to Lucretia appears to be 
 positive evidence, the play must have been written before 
 his own poem, and perhaps suggested to him the idea of 
 dedicating the Lucrece to the Earl of Southampton j 
 and thus fulfilling, in a very unexpected manner, his 
 " Vow to take advantage of all idle hours, till I have 
 honoured you with some graver labour." This play 
 contains a quotation from one of the Sonnets ; — 
 
 "Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds;'' 
 
 and the following line, 
 
 " I might perceive his eye in her eye lost. 
 Sis ear to drink her sweet tongue's utterance," 
 
 is identical with, 
 
 " My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words 
 Of that tongue's uttering." — 
 
 Romeo and Juliet, act il. 
 
 We thus find, Edward III. fastens himself to Shakspere 
 by three strong hooks, besides the unanimous opinion 
 of the German critics, corroborated by the words of an 
 eminent English critic, "We look in vain for some 
 known writer of the period, whose works exhibit a similar 
 combination of excellences." 
 
 This play is an example of Shakspere's wonderful art 
 in selecting, since it was written with a two-fold object ; 
 the first part was personal, according to the immemorial 
 custom of poets, who find relief by giving vent to their 
 feelings in verse, for 
 
 " Orpheus' harp was strung with poets' sinews ;" 
 and the second part was written to rouse the martial 
 
176 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 ardour of the nation, which was then rather languid ; 
 the Commons did not like the taxes in 1593. This is 
 some evidence that Shakspere was a loyal subject^ and 
 did not regard " good Queen Bess " as "a tyrant" 
 according to the lamentable explanation of the Sonnet 
 107j ed. 1609 ; " the great popularity she enjoyed proves, 
 that she did not infringe any established liberties of the 
 people ;" that he, " who did so take Eliza,'' should in- 
 stantly, the breath scarcely out of her body, so insult 
 her memory, is incredible ; " the mortal moon hath her 
 eclipse endured," is a genuine Shaksperian expression; 
 she lives but a month, and is therefore excessively 
 mortal, though not a "human mortal;" has not such 
 " a celerity in dying " as Cleopatra ; the line should be 
 compared with a passage in Hamlet : — 
 
 Hor. " and the moist star. 
 
 Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands. 
 Was sick almost to dooms-day with eclipse." — 
 
 Act i., scene 1. 
 
 This play, Edward III, is divided into two parts ; — 
 " In the first part the point of the action turns upon the 
 love of the king for the beautiful Countess of Salisbury, 
 whom he had released from the besieging Scottish army. 
 The whole of this connexion is no further mentioned in 
 the following part ; it comes to a total conclusion at the 
 end of the second act, where the king, conquered, and 
 at the same time strengthened, by the virtuous greatness 
 of the countess, renounces his passion, and becomes 
 again the master of himself. The countess then dis- 
 appears wholly from the scene, which is changed to the 
 victorious campaign of Edward III, and his heroic son 
 
OF SHAKSFEllE. 177 
 
 the Black Prince. The play thus falls into two different 
 parts, — In the first two acts ve have the Edward of ro- 
 mance, a puling lover, a heartless seducer, a despot, and 
 then a penitent. In the three last acts we have the 
 Edward of history, — the ambitious hero, the stern con- 
 queror, the affectionate husband, the confiding father." 
 — Pictorial Shakspere. 
 
 How applicable is this to Shakspere from the autumn 
 of 1592 to the autumn of 1594; only instead of being 
 the heartless seducer, he was himself most probably the 
 one led astray, as he says in defence of his friend : — 
 
 " And when a woman woos, what woman's son 
 Will sourly leave her 'till slie have prevail'd." 
 
 " There is a very long and somewhat ambitious scene, 
 in which the king instructs his secretary to describe his 
 passion in verse. During the tempest of Edward's 
 passion, the Prince of Wales arrives at the Castle of 
 Roxburgh, and the conflict in the mind of the king is 
 well imagined : — 
 
 Edw. " I see the boy. O, how his mother's face. 
 Moulded in his, corrects my stray'd desire, 
 And rates my heart, and chides my thievish eye; 
 Who, being rich enough in seeing her, 
 Tet seeks elsewhere : and basest theft is that 
 Which cannot check itself on poverty. — 
 Now, boy, what news ? 
 
 Prince. I have assembled, my dear lord and father, 
 The choicest buds of all our EngUsh blood, 
 For our affairs in Prance ; and here we come. 
 To take direction from your majesty. 
 
 Edw. Still do I see in him delineate 
 
 His mother's visage ; those his eyes are hers. 
 
178 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 Wlio, looking wistly on me, make me blush ; 
 
 For faults against themselves give evidence : 
 
 Lust is a fire ; and men, like lanthorns, show 
 
 Light lust within themselves, even through themselves. 
 
 Away, loose silks of wavering vanity ! 
 
 Shall the large limit of fair Brittany 
 
 By me be overthrown ? and shaU I not 
 
 Master this little mansion of myself? 
 
 Give me an armour of eternal steel ; 
 
 I go to conquer kings ; and shall I then 
 
 Subdue myself, and be my enemy's friend? 
 
 It must not be. — Come, boy, forward, advance ! 
 
 Let's with our colours sweep the air of France. 
 
 Lod. My liege, the countess with a smiling cheer. 
 Desires access unto your majesty. 
 
 Advancing from the door and loldspering Mm. 
 
 Edro. Why, there it goes ! that very smile of hers 
 
 Hath ransom'd captive France ; and set the king. 
 
 The dauphin, and the peers, at liberty. — 
 
 Go, leave me, Ned, and revel with thy friends." 
 
 "The countess enters, and with the following scene 
 suddenly terminates the ill-starr'd passion of the king ; 
 
 Edw. " Ssc, &c. 
 
 I am awaked from this idle dream." 
 
 " The remarks of Ulrici upon this portion of the play 
 are conceived upon his usual principle of connecting the 
 action and characterisation of Shakspere's dramas with 
 the development of a high moral, or rather Christian 
 principle. — The concluding observation of Ulrici is — 
 ' Truly, if this piece, as the English critics assert, is not 
 Shakspere's own, it is a shame for them that they have 
 done nothing to recover from forgetfulness the name of 
 this second Shakspere, this twin-brother of their great 
 poet.^ — ' There is one thing wanting,^ says Mr. Knight, 
 
OF SHAKSPERE. 179 
 
 ' to make the writer a twin-brother,' which is found in 
 all those productions, [historical plays j] Where is the 
 comedy of Edward III?" If the reader should be of 
 opinion, that in these interesting extracts Shakspere is 
 giving utterance to his own thoughts and feelings, he 
 can readily answer the suggestive query, " Where is the 
 comedy of Edward III. ? " 
 
 Having thus " awaked from this idle dream " the poet 
 fights the good fight again in Lucrece, published in 
 May, 1594; an effective counterblast to the Verms and 
 Adonis. In the same year in a more softened mood, 
 though still haunted by the image of the Ethiop he 
 composes the Merchant of Venice, his mind now dwell- 
 ing on that " gentle spirit." 
 
 " Whose sunny locks 
 Hang on her temples like a golden fleece ; " 
 
 In fact we here behold a scene in real life the reverse 
 of Faustus with his good and evil angel : — 
 
 G. Ang. "Sweet Faustus, leave that execrable art. 
 faust. Contrition, prayer, repentance, — what of them ? 
 G. Ang. Oh, they are means to bring thee unto heaven ! 
 -E. Ang. Eather illusions, fruits of lunacy, 
 
 That make men foolish that do trust them most. 
 G. Ang. Sweet Faustus, think of heaven and heavenly things." 
 
 However distinct the ' characters may be, Jessica is 
 evidently intended for Juliet's sister; she has'nt a 
 thought for her father : — 
 
180 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 ' " I will make fast the doors, and gild myself 
 With some more ducats and be with you straight." 
 
 Mr. Hunter in his Illustrations observes^ " We may 
 remark, however, upon this part of the scene^ that it ex- 
 hibits a curious proof, that when Shakspere delineated, 
 in a manner to make the scene visible to every eye, the 
 garden of Portia, he thought of the garden he had him- 
 self created of the Capulets at Verona. The passages 
 which open a view of this little process of the poet's 
 mind are these : Portia. — "Swear by your double self;" 
 Juliet. — "Swear by your gracious self." Bassanio.- — 
 " The blessed candles of the night ;" Romeo. — " Night's 
 candles are burnt out." Bassanio's hyperbolical com- 
 pliment to the eyes of Portia, — 
 
 " We should hold day with the Antipodes 
 If you should walk in absence of the sun," 
 
 is not more worthy of the poet than the words which he 
 had put into the mouth of Romeo, — 
 
 " Her eye in heaven 
 Would through the airy regions stream so bright 
 That birds would sing and think it were not night." 
 
 Nor can we avoid the supposition, that in the garden 
 scene Shakspere is speaking through Lorenzo, and dis- 
 coursing most sweetly " of heaven and heavenly things " 
 in the character of tutor or instructor to his com- 
 panion; and considering the time and circumstances 
 under which this play was composed, the following 
 passage is peculiarly significant : — 
 
 Lor. " And now, good sweet, say thy opinion, 
 
 How dost thou like the lord Bassanio's wife. 
 
OF SEAKSPERE. 181 
 
 Jes. Past all expressing : it is very meet, 
 
 The lord Bassanio live an upright life ; 
 T'or, having such a blessing in his lady, 
 He finds the joys of heaven here .on earth. — 
 
 Act iii., scene 5. 
 
 And hovr pleasing it is to believe, the following lines 
 were intended for his dearest friend, John Lyly : — 
 
 Bass. " The dearest friend to me, the kindest man. 
 The best condition'd and unwearied spirit 
 In doing courtesies ; and one in whom 
 The ancient Eoman honour more appears. 
 Than any that draws breath in Italy." — 
 
 Act iii., scene 3. 
 
 In 1596, having gained a thorough conquest over 
 himself, not a trace of the disease remaining, Shakspere 
 writes a satirical farewell to the lady of the Sonnets in 
 the Taming of the Shrew : — 
 
 " For patience she will prove a second Grissell, 
 And Roman Lucrece for her chastity." 
 
 Grumio's speech fixes the date and shows, that Pe- 
 truchio is another mask, behind which Shakspere is 
 amusing himself: — 
 
 Gru. " Was it fit for a servant to use his master so ; 
 being, perhaps, [for aught I see] two-and-thirty, — a pip out?" 
 
 Shakspere's manufacturing this comedy out of Mar- 
 lowe's, and transferring the scene from Greece to Italy, 
 justifies the supposition, that the Taming of a Shrew and 
 Midsummer Night's Dream were both aimed at the same 
 party. Why Shakspere re-modelled Marlowe's comedy, 
 it is idle guessing, though it may have had some con- 
 nexion with Lord Southampton, possibly a feu-de-joie, 
 
182 THE FOOTSTEPS 
 
 that his friend had escaped from the enchantments of 
 this Italian Circe ; the earl left England in June, having 
 a command in the expedition against Cadiz. " It is," 
 says Mr. Brown, " in the Taming of the Shrew, where 
 the evidence is the strongest," that Shakspere had been 
 in Italy. 
 
 In Marlowe's comedy, the Taming of a Shrew, Fer- 
 nando is a softened and cocknified Tamburlaine; Au- 
 rehus is perhaps intended for Lyly, and Polidor for 
 Shakspere. The comic portion is on a level with the 
 clownage in Faustus, and there is only one genuine bit 
 of wit and humour in the whole play, and that comes 
 from the heart and not firom.the head; at this time, as 
 I have before stated, Marlowe was dependent on the 
 liberality of Southampton and Shakspere ; let it be re- 
 membered also, that Slie is Christopher Marlowe him- 
 self:— 
 
 Aurel. " Pardon me, father; humbly on my knees, 
 I do entreat your grace to hear me speak. 
 
 Duke. Peace, villain : lay hands on them. 
 And send them to prison straight." 
 
 [Phylotus and Valeria runnes away. 
 
 Slie. I say we'll have no sending to prison. 
 
 Lord. My lord, this is but the play ; they're but in jest. 
 
 Slie. I tell thee, Sim, we'll have no sending 
 
 To prison, that's flat : why, Sim, am uot I Bon 
 Christo Vary? 
 
 Therefore I say they shall not go to prison. 
 Lord. No more they shall not, my lord. 
 
 They be run away. 
 Slie, Are they run away, Sim ? that's well ; 
 
 Then gis some more drink, and let them play 
 again." 
 
This is the most genuine bit of comedy Marlowe eve 
 wrote, and Shakspere never wrote anything more true 
 to nature ; .and probably he had this passage in his recol- 
 lection when he wrote : — 
 
 Fist. " Fortune is Bardolph's foe, and frowns on him ; 
 
 for he hath stoU'n a pisn, and hanged must 'a be. 
 Damn'd death ! 
 
 Let gallows gape for dog, let man go free. 
 And let not hemp his windpipe suffocate : 
 But Exeter hath given the doom of death. 
 For jaix of little price." — 
 
 Henry V., act iii., scene 6. 
 
 The Taming of the Shew was immediately followed by 
 King John, composed most probably during the summer 
 of 1596; whether it was finished^ or not, before the 
 death of Hamnet in August, matters little; in Con- 
 stance we have a picture of the maternal sufferings of 
 Shakspere's wife, anxiously watching the wasting figure 
 of her only son ; it may be reasonably inferred such is 
 the case, since no editor pretends, the play was produced 
 before 1595, and in no other play has he painted 
 maternal suffering so vividly and forcibly ; and yet the 
 anxiety and misery of Constance are in a measure ima- 
 ginary; she sees in her mind's eye her son wasting 
 away: — 
 
 Comt. " There was not such a gracious creature born. 
 But now will canker sorrow eat my bud. 
 And chase the native beauty from his cheek, 
 And he will look as hollow as a ghost ; 
 As dim and meagre as an ague's fit ; 
 And so he'll die."— 
 
 Kiti^ John, act iii., scene 4. 
 
It may then be inferred, the play was composed in 
 1596j and brought out probably before the death of 
 Hamnet, if, as Giflford supposes, Jonson h£<s in Every 
 Man in his Humour imitated the temptation scene be- 
 tween the King and Hubert. 
 
 Towards the end of the year it may be presumed, 
 Shakspere commenced the second part of his great his- 
 torical drama with Richard II., closely followed by 
 Henry IV. and V. These latter plays furnish additional 
 evidence that Pistol, like Marlowe, was in his way a 
 learned man. From the incompatibility of the Merry 
 Wives of Windsor with these plays, we may be certain 
 it could not have been written at this period ; the cir- 
 cumstance of its having been originally composed in 
 1592, confirms the opinion, Shakspere had in 1590 
 already sketched in his mind the whole historical drama 
 from RicJiard II. to Richard III. 
 
 Henry V., it is supposed, was written in 1599; and 
 we may presume Lyly was still living, as Captain 
 Fluellen is twin-brother to Sir Hugh Evans ; and his 
 treatment of Pistol reminds us of Lord Lafeu. The 
 polished language of the military pedant, Fluellen, 
 apart from his Welsh Euphuisms, has a remarkable re- 
 semblance to the " finished representation of colloquial 
 excellence" of the pedant. Sir Nathaniel, in Love's 
 Labour's Lost. These four characters (the two parsons, 
 the lord, and the captain), are composed of the same 
 elements, four brothers at a birth ; but they are four 
 individuals quite distinct the one from the other ; they 
 are not brothers Cheeryble or Siamese twins, simply 
 because they have not grown up together in the same 
 
OF SHAS;sPli„_ 
 
 shop, in the SSiVle counting-house j their respected parent, 
 Mr. Willia'ii Shakspere, was perfectly aware of the influ- 
 ence of education and habit ; consequently, the captain 
 and the lord have none of the weakness and nervousness 
 of the two parsons, of Sir Hugh waiting in the field for 
 his enemy, " how full of cholers I am, and trempling of 
 mind," and of Sir Nathaniel, as Alisander, "he is a 
 naarvellous good neighbour, insooth; and a very good 
 bowler ; but, for Alisander, alas, you see how 'tis j — a 
 little o'erparted." 
 
 Soon after this period Nash died, and, it is supposed, 
 
 yly also. Shakspere was now a gentleman in easy 
 
 ircumstances ; the owner of New Place, the best house 
 
 n Stratford, sometimes farming, sometimes playmaking. 
 
 [Some writers, with Hallam at their head, imagine, that 
 
 in the beginning of the seventeenth century Shakspere 
 
 must have suffered from : — 
 
 ; " The proud man's contumely, 
 
 ! The insolence of office, and the spurns 
 
 ! That patient merit of the unworthy takes ;" 
 
 I in consequence of Timon, the amended Hamlet, and 
 - Lear, having been produced at that period ; but others 
 : rather lean to the opinion, these characters are purely 
 I : poetical conceptions, the results of a more extended 
 [■observation of human life, and unconnected with his 
 ilpersonal history; and that he "was never so happy in 
 /his own mind as when, by contrast, he was sketching 
 ) that class of moody characters — Lear, Timon, Jaques, 
 ] Hamlet, &c., referred to by Mr. Hallam." Jonson's 
 I works have been ransacked by Steevens, Malone, and 
 • others, in search of spiteful remarks against the mighty 
 
.^ l(0OTSTEPS 
 
 dramatist ; but it is now generally ackuOwleoged, their 
 accusations and charges against " malignant Ben " have 
 been most ably and satisfactorily refuted by Gifford's 
 , caustic pen ; and who has not heard of their wit-combats 
 at the Mermaid, and of Jonson^'s eulogy : — 
 
 " He was not of an age, but for all time." 
 
 Exegi monumentum : I have built me a house^ I have 
 written a book ; and be it a dream, at least it is not a 
 baseless fabric ; it stands on a rock, and not on sand ; 
 the genuineness of the documents cannot be doubted, 
 although they may be questioned. I have no theory to 
 defend; "'tis a thing slipped idly from me, as a guai 
 which oozes from whence 'tis nourished;" and thougli 
 the chaste severity of Shaksperian criticism may be in,' 
 clined to condemn the whole as a gallimawfry of dream ' 
 supposes, of idle imaginings, yet there are some poin' 
 that deserve a candid consideration, and challenge tl: 
 strictest inquiry : — 
 
 "And for their sake 
 Let the rest, if not acceptance take. 
 At least forojiveness find." 
 
 F. VICKTON, PRINTER, PEBEY's ri.ACE, 29, OXFORD STREF.T, 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON 
 
 DRAMATIC, versus WIT-COMBATS. 
 
 AUXILIARY POECES:— 
 
 BEAUMONT AND PLETCHEK, MARSTON, DECKER, 
 
 CHAPMAN, AND WEBSTER. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 
 36, SOHO SQUARE. 
 
 " IwELFrn NiOHT," 1861. 
 
 tU 
 
LONDON: 
 
 i. I'lCETON, ParNTKK, 
 
 89, GUEAT LMBTLAND STUKET, OXVOKU STBKE 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Of the two following extracts from Lady Morgan's 
 Memoirs, the first is singularly applicable to Jonson, and 
 the second to Shakspere : — 
 
 " One almost wonders that some of the fine ladies whom 
 Lady Morgan produced in her works, etching them in aqua- 
 fortis and colouring them to the Ufe, did not assassinate her 
 by way of return, especially as she invariably introduced a 
 sketch of herself in one corner of all her pictures, taking up all 
 the wisdom and common sense going, as well as being the 
 most agreeable character in the story." — Vol. ii., p. 33. 
 
 " The history of this curious friendship is detailed in the 
 story of the Wild Irish Girl, where her father figures as the 
 Prince of Innismore, Mr. Everard and his son as Lord M — 
 and Mortimer ; though the beautiful atmosphere of romance 
 which clothes the story in the novel, was entirely absent in 
 the matter of fact."— Vol. i., p. 277. 
 
 By the early commentators Jonson was, "for the 
 most part, jeered at or condemned, as a boastful and 
 malignant man, in the world of letters ; and as a tetchy, 
 quarrelsome, ungrateful, and ill-conditioned person, in 
 all that related to social life." But Gifford says, " that 
 Jonson, far from being vindictive, was one of the most 
 placable of mankind : he blustered, indeed, and talked 
 angrily; but his heart was turned to afiection, and his 
 enmities appear to have been short-lived, while his 
 friendships were durable and sincere." 
 
 B 
 
SHAKSPERB AND JONSON. 
 
 Without entering into the inquiry how far GifFord 
 may have vindicated Jonson from the charges of 
 Steevens and MaJonej it will be clearly demonstrated 
 in the following pages, there must have been at one 
 time a violent quarrel between the two poets ; that it 
 was sought for by Jonson, unprovoked ; and although 
 Shakspere after each encounter entreats for peace, yet 
 the other will ha' none on it, feeling his forces renewed, 
 Antceus-like, by each fall, and from the same source, 
 mother earth. 
 
 The battle commenced, or rather the first signs or 
 prognostications of a possible storm appeared in 1596, 
 with the prologue to Every Man in his Humour, in 
 which Jonson comes forward as a dramatic reformer ; 
 and though the lines may by some be regarded as 
 merely expressing the zeal and earnestness of the author, 
 they can scarcely be regarded as written in a friendly 
 spirit. 
 
 The comedy was brought out at the Globe in 1598, 
 and " this arose, as some authors assert, from generosity 
 on Shakspere's part ; " whilst Gifford asserts, that " his 
 merits must be confined to procuring for his own theatre 
 an improved copy of a popular performance.'^ 
 
 Jonson then brings forth one play annually ; Every 
 Man out of his Humour in 1599, Cynthia's Revels in 
 1600, and The Poetaster in 1601. 
 
 In Cynthia's Revels, Jonson, it is supposed, intended 
 " to ridicule the quaint absurdities of the courtiers ;" 
 but as " Marston and Decker were the most conspicuous 
 amongst these dissentients," it must be presumed, that 
 under the name of courtiers was concealed an attack on 
 
SHAKSPBRE AND JONSON. O 
 
 the follies of the poets; and the following passage 
 appears decisive of the author's intention, where he 
 himself, as Crites, passes sentence on the courtiers: — 
 
 " And after penance thus performed you pass 
 In like set order, not as Midas did, 
 To wash his gold off into Tagus' stream ; 
 But to the well of knowledge. Helicon ; 
 Where, purged of your present maladies. 
 Which are not few, nor slender, you become 
 Such as you fain would seem, and then return. 
 Offering your service to great Cynthia." — Act v., so. 3. 
 
 these lines must surely refer to poets. 
 
 The only characters applicable to Marston and Decker 
 are Hedon and Anaides j who then are Amor ph us the 
 deformed, and Asotus the prodigal ? they are not only 
 the two leading characters, but they are, in a manner, 
 separated from the other courtiers, and brought more 
 immediately into contact with Crites ; they are thus 
 described in the Induction: — "These, in the court, 
 meet with Amorphus, or the deformed, a traveller that 
 hath drunk of the fountain, and there tells the wonder's 
 of the water. With this Amorphus there comes along 
 a citizen's heir, Asotus, or the Prodigal, who, in imita- 
 tion of the traveller, who hath the Whetstone following 
 him, entertains the Beggar, to be his attendant." 
 
 Here we have Amorphus, the deformed, a name 
 highly appropriate to Euphues or Lyly, with his page 
 Cos, the Whetstone, reminding us of Eumenides with 
 his love " Semele, the very wasp of all women;" and 
 although painted in the ridiculous character of Master 
 of the Ceremonies, again extremely apposite, he is in 
 fact, a satirist throughout, and incidentally of the very 
 
4 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 follies he aflfects. The name of Asotus, or the Prodigal, 
 is also peculiarly appropriate to Shakspere, who " con- 
 centrates every excellence in his own person, — casting 
 out, with the profusion of a superior spirit, intellectual 
 wealth of all kinds upon us ;" but probably it was envy 
 of his wealth that gave the name ; and this opinion is 
 justified by Cupid's account of the lady Argurion or 
 money, " she loves a player well and a lawyer infinitely ; 
 but your fool above all." Like Amorphus he has a 
 page, Prosaites or the Beggar, and is afterwards favoured 
 with an additional one, the Fool. 
 
 In the Induction we also read : — " O, [I had almost 
 forgot it too,] they say, the umhrm or ghosts of some 
 three or four plays departed a dozen years since, have 
 been seen walking on your stage here ; take heed, boy, 
 if your house be haunted with such hobgoblins, 'twill 
 fright away all your spectators quickly." This caustic 
 observation can refer only to Shakspere's plays; as 
 Love's Labour's Lost was published in 1598, Romeo and 
 Juliet in 1599, Midsummer Night's Dream in 1600, and 
 probably All's Well that Ends Well was re-written about 
 the same time, and very likely Pericles and The Merry 
 Wives of Windsor. 
 
 The remark of Crites, that Asotus is " no bred- 
 courtling," applies most appositely to Shakspere's want 
 of an University education ; and by his addressing the 
 ladies in the words of Amorphus, he becomes " a crow 
 beautified with our feathers," and Crites calls him " z. 
 jack -daw ; " he is also styled Polyphragmon, one that 
 can do every thing, or " in his own conceit the only 
 Shakescene in a country;" and his saying, "Nay, sir. 
 
SHAKSPERB AND JONSON. 5 
 
 I have read history," must be an allusion to the " York 
 and Lancaster long jars." We are reminded of sweet 
 bully Bottom, and of Sir John Palstaff in The Merry 
 Wives of Windsor, when Mercury says : — " I wonder 
 this gentleman should affect to keep a fool : me-thinks 
 he makes sport enough with himself;" — and " a quick 
 nimble memory" recalls to us Sir Hugh's opinion of 
 William, " he is a good sprag memory ;" whilst " victus, 
 victa, victum," is redolent of " hie, hmc, hoc ;" and " feign 
 to have seen him in Venice or Padua " explains itself. 
 
 It is said of the liquid tests of arsenic, that each, 
 singly, is of little value, but, taken aU together, they 
 are proof, the substance must be arsenic ; and so it may 
 be said of the numerous traits of character in Asotus : 
 each, singly, may be applicable to any individual, but 
 all apply to Shakspere, and to him alone are they all 
 applicable; consequently, Asotus must be Shakspere, 
 whilst Amorphus, the deformed, with his page Cos and 
 his Pythagorical breeches, is and can be no other than 
 John Lyly. We thus see, that in Cynthia's Revels 
 Jonson's real object was to make Shakspere and Lyly 
 ridiculous [as well as Marston and Decker] under pre- 
 tence of ridiculing the quaint absurdities of the courtiers. 
 
 The Poetaster was brought out at the Blackfriars by 
 the children of the Queen's Chapel in 1601. In this 
 drama Marston and Decker are satirised under the 
 names of Crispinus and Demetrius ; and in the character 
 of Ovid, Jonson rejects Shakspere as a dramatist. 
 
 The play opens with Ovid in his study, making verses, 
 " songs and sonnets," to the neglect of the law, and in 
 this first scene the allusions to Shakspere are numerous. 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 clear, and pointed; a law-student, his writings full of 
 law terms ; his descent and name ; never blotted a line, 
 " the hasty errors of our morning muse ;" a playmaker 
 and a stager ; and the observation of Tucca, " my noble 
 neophyte, my little grammaticaster," directly connects 
 Ovid with Asotus; and "my pretty Alcibiades" is an 
 allusion to Timon of Athens. 
 
 With regard to the expression, "your songs and 
 sonnets," it should not be overlooked, that Meres says, 
 "As the soul of Euphorbus was thought to live in 
 Pythagoras, so the sweet soul of Ovid lives in mellifluous 
 and honey-tongued Shakspere. Witness his Venus and 
 Adonis, his Lucrece, his sugred sonnets among his 
 private friends." 
 
 That there may be no mistake, that Ovid is and shall 
 i^e Shakspere, the whole of the last scene in the fourth 
 act is a parody on the third and fifth scenes in the third 
 act of Romeo and Juliet. 
 
 In the scene where the poets personate the gods, 
 Ovid represents Jupiter ; the whole is a parody of the 
 latter part of the first book of the Iliad, which very book 
 Shakspere had freely paraphrased in the opening of 
 Henry VI. Here we have Shakspere as Jupiter, the 
 great dramatist and theatrical manager as bully Bottom, 
 or the only Shakescene in his own conceit ; but he is 
 only the mock Jupiter of a false poetical hierarchy, a 
 set of " counterfeits," and he is dismissed in disgrace as 
 unworthy of the classical court of Caesai- ; and whilst 
 Shakspere, as Ovid, is summarily dismissed, Chapman, 
 as Virgil, is enthroned with the following adulatory 
 strain : — 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 7 
 
 CiES. " See, here comes Virgil ; we will rise and greet bitn. 
 Welcome to Caesar, Virgil, &c. 
 Where are thy famous ffineids ? do us grace 
 To let us see and surfeit on their sight." 
 
 That Virgil is Chapman may be gathered from the 
 words of Caesar : — 
 
 " Now he is come out of Campania, 
 I doubt not he hath finish'd all his (Eneids." 
 
 Chapman had probably finished his translation of the 
 Iliad at this time, although it was not published tiU 
 after the accession of King James. He was also Jonson's 
 most intimate friend, who told Drummond, "beloved 
 Chapman." Nor can we doubt, Propertius is Dr. Donne, 
 whom Jonson " esteemed the first poet in the world for 
 some things." Chapman took the earliest opportunity 
 of repaying Jonson for his enthronement, by commenda- 
 tory A'erses on Sejanus, too fulsome even for Grifford. 
 Assuredly Shakspere, though a crow and a jack-daw, 
 showed his good sense in abstaining from such poetical 
 cawing. 
 
 From this analysis of the Poetaster, it must be 
 granted, the Ovid of Jonson, like the Ovid of Meres, 
 is Shakspere. 
 
 When we look to Shakspere's antecedents, to Parolles, 
 Pistol, and Lovers Labour's Lost, we feel confident, such 
 a " crack " would not tamely submit to these imper- 
 tinences and insults, especially from such an original, a 
 very godsend to a satirical joker ; can it then be doubted, 
 that in Timon of Athens, a play contaiaing a prodigal 
 beggar'd and a snarler, Shakspere pours forth his wrath 
 on Jonson as Apemantus, the churlish philosopher, and 
 
e SHAKSFERE AND JONSON. 
 
 repays the Ondean compliment by cudgelling the crab- 
 stick with pitiless contempt and ridicule as Thersites, in 
 Troilus and Cressida ? 
 
 In such profound archoeological researches dates are 
 of singular value, and in Jack Drum's Entertainment, 
 1 601, is this passage : — 
 
 " Come, I'll be as sociable as Timon of Athens;" 
 
 however slight this evidence of the date of Timon may 
 appear, let it not be forgotten, Mr. Armitage Brown 
 fixed the very early date of Hamlet, contrary to received 
 opinions, on stiU slighter grounds. But there is also 
 strong internal evidence to the same effect — Hamlet was 
 certainly amended and enlarged: in 1600 or 1601; and 
 numerous phrases in Timon, even whole passages, remind 
 us of Hamlet, as the quibbling on the words honest and 
 lie ; thus Timon's welcome to Alcibiades : — 
 
 Tim. " 'Ere we depart, we'U share a bounteous time 
 
 In different pleasures." 
 Ham. " We'll teach you to drink deep, ere you depart." 
 
 Mav. " I must be round with him." 
 Fol. " No, I went round to work. 
 Let her be round with him." 
 
 Mav. " What shall defend the interim ? " 
 Ham. " It wiU be short : the interim is mine." 
 
 Tim. " With thy most operant poison." 
 P.King." My operant powers." 
 
 Tim. " There's ne'er a one of you but trusts a knave, 
 
 That mightily deceives you." 
 Ham. " There's ne'er a villain, dwelling in all Denmark. 
 
 But he's an arrant knave." 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 It should be mentioned, the words round, interim, and 
 operant, or at least those expressions, are not in the first 
 sketch of Hamlet. 
 
 As Timon was most probably an instant reply to the 
 Revels, written at fever-heat without correcting " the 
 hasty errors of our morning muse," it may be surmised 
 Hamlet was more leisurely re-written after Timon, and 
 this circumstance may account for the " thoughtful 
 philosophy " in the amended play ; consequently several 
 sharp sentences, not in the first sketch, are in reality 
 gentle hints or lashes at Jonson ; and consequently the 
 passage about an aiery of children, so fiiUy elaborated 
 in the amended copy, deserves consideration; and it 
 may be conjectured, that Shakspere, though he had not 
 altogether retired from London, was at least occasionally 
 a resident at Stratford ; the phrase " Hercules and his 
 load,^' may be a rap at the bricklayer and his hod : — 
 
 Sam. " Do they hold the same estimation they did when 
 I was in the city ? Are they so followed ?" 
 " Do the boys carry it away ? 
 Bos. Ay, that they do, my lord ; Hercules and his load too. 
 Ham. It is not very strange : for my uncle is king of 
 Denmark. 
 
 'Sblood, there is something in this more than 
 natural, if philosophy could find it out." 
 
 That the Poetaster was written after the amended 
 Hamlet may be inferred from the following extracts; 
 such resemblances could not be accidental : — 
 " Are there no players here ? no poet apes,* 
 That come with basilisk's eyes, whose forked tongues 
 Are steep'd in venom, as their hearts in gall ? 
 
 * Vid., Epigram, 56, on Poet-Ape, written very likely about this period. 
 
 T» 9, 
 
10 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Here, take my snakes among you, come and eat. 
 And while the squeez'd juice flows in your black jaws, 
 Help me to damn the author." 
 " Of base detractors and illiterate apes." 
 
 Prologue to the Poetaster. 
 
 Ham. " Like the famous ape," &c. 
 
 " There's letters seal'd: and my two school-fellows, — 
 Whom I will trust, as I will adders fang'd, — " 
 Bos. " Take you me for a sponge my lord ? " 
 Ham. " Ay, sir, that soaks up the king's countenance, his 
 rewards, his authorities. But such oflicers do the king 
 best service in the end : He keeps them, like an ape, in the 
 corner of his jaw ; first mouthed, to be last swallowed ; when 
 he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and 
 sponge, you shall be dry again." — Hamlet. 
 
 There is, howeverj additional and very singular evi- 
 dence, not only that Timon was written about this 
 period, but that both it and Cynthia's Revels are 
 founded on the same piece, on another Timon., which 
 has been edited by Mr. Dyce, for the " Sbakspere 
 Society." 
 
 With our present knowledge there cannot be the 
 slightest doubt, Shakspere, as well as Jonson, was 
 favoured with a copy of it ; and on examination we 
 shall find, Jonson has drawn far more largely upon it in 
 Cynthia's Revels than Shakspere did. 
 
 Pseudocheus, a lying traveller, and Gelasimus, a city 
 heir, in love with the daughter of Philargurus, are not 
 so much the prototypes as the identical characters, 
 Amorphus, the travelle)-, and Asotus a citizen's heir, son 
 to the late deceased Philargyrus, and in love with Ladv 
 Argurion ; and Blatte, the prattling nurse, is the same 
 as mother Moria, or mistress Folly. 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON'. 11 
 
 The sceae between Amorphus and Asotus in Act i., 
 scene 1, may be regarded as a transcript of the following 
 passage : — 
 
 Pseud. "A. spruce neat youth : what if I affront (accost) him ? 
 
 Gelas. Good gods, how earnestlj' do I desire 
 
 His fellowship ! was I ere so shamefao'd ? 
 What if I send and give to him my cloak ? 
 
 Pseud. What shall I say ? I saw his face at Thebes 
 
 Or Sicily ? [aside. 
 
 Gelas. I'll send it. Poedio, 
 
 Give him this cloak ; salute him in my name ; 
 H'st, thou may'st tell him, if thou wUt, how rich 
 My father was. [aside to Poedio. 
 
 Pseud. What, as a token of his love, say'st thou ? 
 Eeturn this answer to that noble youth ; 
 I, Pseudooheus from the Bloody Tower, 
 Do wish him more than twenty thousand healths ; 
 Who 'ere he be, be he more fortunate 
 Than they that live in the Isles Fortunate, 
 Or in the flourishing Elizian fields ; 
 May he drink nectar, eat ambrosia ! 
 
 Gelas. How daintily his speech flows from him ! 
 
 Lord, what a potent fi-iend have I obtained ! — 
 What countryman I pray you, sir ? " 
 
 Act i., scene 4. 
 
 Pseudocheus and Gelasimus exchange rings just as 
 Amorphus and Asotus do beavers ; the wooing scene is 
 also similar ; and we have the word whetstone, ''wine is 
 valour's whetstone." 
 
 Furthermore we have in this " academic Timon " the 
 names of Demetrius and Albius; whilst Hermogenes 
 and Callimela are the same individuals as Hermogenes 
 and Chloe in the Poetaster. 
 
 The line " and now live like camelions by th' air," 
 
12 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 probably gave rise to the quibble in the amended 
 Hamlet : — 
 
 Kinff. " How fares our cousin Hamlet ? 
 Ham. Excellent, i' faith ; of the camelion's dish : I eat 
 the air, promise-crammed : you cannot feed capons so." 
 
 From this analysis of the drama we are led to presume 
 the author was " a young gentleman of the two Univer- 
 sities," a friend of Jonson's, and well read in Lyly, whom 
 he ridicules as Pseudocheus, whilst the ignorant and un- 
 classical Shakspere is Gelasimus, who has a fall from 
 Pegasus, and is capped with the ears of an ass. Timon 
 ■ may be the author himself, and Laches, the honest 
 steward, Jonson ; possibly the two lying philosophers 
 are Marston and Decker. 
 
 There is something peculiar about the history of 
 Troilus and Cressida, it was published piratically in 
 1609, and described as " a new play, never stal'd with 
 the stage ;" it was, however, written at this period, and 
 no doubt, in circulation amongst private friends, to-wit 
 the " Mermaid Club." In the prologue we read : — 
 
 " And hither am I come 
 A prologue arm'd, — but not in confidence 
 Of author's pen or actor's voice ;"' 
 
 and in the prologue to the Poetaster : — 
 
 " Enter Prologue hastily in armoury 
 " If any muse why I salute the stage 
 
 An armed Prologue ; — 
 
 Whereof the allegory and hid sense 
 
 Is, that a well erected confidence 
 
 Can fright their pride, and laugh their folly hence." 
 
 Surely the one is an allusion to the other, and it should 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 13 
 
 be noted, these are the only instances in which either 
 author has a prologue armed. 
 
 If Dr. Johnson objects to Neoptolemus as a name for 
 Achilles in Troilus and Cressida, Shakspere may reply 
 that Ben Jonson had previously used it in the Poet- 
 aster : — 
 
 TvfC. " Give me thy hand, Agamemnon ; we hear abroad 
 thou art the Hector of citizens : What say'st thou ? are we 
 welcome to thee, noble Neoptolemus ? " 
 
 We thus have a remarkably strong link connecting 
 these two plays, and the observation of Thersites, " Now 
 she sharpens ; — Well said, whetstone," shows Shakspere 
 had not quite forgotten Cynthia's Revels. 
 
 Let us examine these four plays in the reverse order, 
 confining ourselves in the strictest manner to the barest 
 evidence the plays afford. In Troilus and Cressida the 
 character of Thersites, be it accidental or intentional, is 
 an inimitable caricature of Crites and Horace, that is, 
 of Jonson. In 1601 appeared the Poetaster ; in it Ovid 
 is a law student, writing "songs and sonnets;" he is 
 spoken of as a playmaker and a stager, and acknowledges 
 he has "begun a poem of that nature;" he is in love 
 with Julia, and one whole scene is a parody on Romeo 
 and Juliet, at that very time Shakspere was in literary 
 circles called Ovid, on account of his "sugred sonnets;" 
 can it then be denied, can it for a moment be doubted, 
 that Ovid in the Poetaster is intended for Shakspere ? 
 In this comedy the witty and accomplished Horace is 
 pestered and bored by a poetaster, and escapes from 
 him on the arrival of two other persons; — in Troilus 
 and Cressida, Thersites makes his appearance in a 
 
14 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 similar manner, beiug belaboured by the beef-witted 
 AjaXj and makes his escape on the arrival of Achilles 
 and Patroclus ; and throughout the play his conduct 
 and remarks are a parody on Horace ; Thersites must 
 consequently be an intentional caricature of Jonson. 
 
 In 1600 the Comical Satire, or Cynthia's Revels, 
 was acted by the children of the Queen^s Chapel; 
 Asotus the prodigal, with his two pages, the beggar and 
 the fool, has many traits of character applicable to 
 ShaksperCj and to no other individual ;- — Timon of 
 Athens contains a prodigal beggar'd, and a churlish 
 philosopher ; both plays are founded on the " academic 
 Timon ; " the date of Timcn of Athens is unknown, but 
 the name was familiar to a London audience in 1601, 
 the play contains also internal evidence, it must have 
 been written immediately before or after the amended 
 Hamlet -• as Thersites has been shown to be a rejoinder 
 to Ovid, the natural inference is, that Apemantus is the 
 reply to Asotus. We may then place these plays iu 
 the following order ; — 
 
 Cynthia's Revels, in the Summ.er, "i 
 
 Timon of Athens, in the Autumn, J 
 
 Poetaster, in the Summer, ~i 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, iu the Autumn, J 
 
 Many a man has been hanged on circumstantial 
 evidence far less clear and absolute than these dates, 
 consequently Apemautus and Thersites must be the 
 rebound, the repercussive blows to Asotus and Ovid. 
 Shakspere evidently enjoys Thersites as an intellectual 
 exercise, "a wit-combat:" — 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 15 
 
 Heci. " What art thou, Greek, art thou for Hector's match ? 
 
 Art thou of blood and honour ? 
 TJiers. No, no ; — I am a rascal, a scurvy railing knave, a 
 very filthy rogue. 
 
 Eect. I do believe thee ; — live." \_exit. 
 
 That Shakspere felt he vcas doing battle for Lyly as 
 well as for himself, appears from the following passage, 
 reminding us of Midas, and concisely describing Jonson 
 as a compound of wit and malice : — 
 
 Ther. " To what form, but that he is, should wit larded 
 with malice, and malice farced with wit, turn him to ? To 
 an ass were nothing, he is both ass and ox ; to an ox were 
 nothing, he is both ox and ass." 
 
 As evil deeds bear the seeds of their own punishment, 
 it may be conjectured, that the scene from Homer, 
 where Ovid acts Jupiter, gave Shakspere the idea of 
 lampooning Jonson as Thersites, just as the playing on 
 the word Judas may have reminded Lyly of Midas. 
 
 As the two comedies, Cynthia's Revels and the Poet- 
 aster, were acted by the children of the Queen^s Chapel, 
 and the two preceding ones by Shakspere^s company, it 
 may be reasonably presumed, some misunderstanding 
 had intervened ; but on examining Every Man out of 
 his Humour, to our astonishment, we find the same 
 characters and the same satire as in Cynthia's Revels ; 
 but though Shakspere took a part in Every Man in his 
 Humour, he did not act in the other, as Gifford inno- 
 cently observes : — " This comedy, like the former, 
 appears to have been acted by the whole strength of 
 the house, with the exception of Shakspere, who found 
 perhaps no part in it suited to his gentle conditions." 
 
16 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Let US now take a look at the characters in Every 
 Man out of his Humour : — Puntarvolo (Lyly) is a copy 
 of Sir Tophas and Don Armado^ or rather he is Count 
 Lafeu in their clothes; at his first appearance his 
 gracing is a paraphrase of Sir Tophas in Endymion, Act 
 ii. sc. 3; and his ready insight into the character of 
 Shift reminds us of Lafeu and Parolles ; " he was first 
 smoked by the old lord Lafeu." His character, the 
 description of Armado, as well as Mercury's account of 
 AmorphuSj are too similar to be accidental. He is 
 spoken of as having a "good knotty wit," — as "that 
 stiff-necked gentleman," — "a good tough gentleman, 
 he looks like a shield of brawn at Shrove-tide, out of 
 date, and ready to take his leave." His treatment of 
 Carlo Buffone at the Mitre, " I shall be sudden I tell 
 you," raises a suspicion, that Justice Clement in Evei'y 
 Man in his Humour is another satirical picture of John 
 Lyly, especially as Daniel is satirised in that as weU as 
 in this comedy. 
 
 Fungoso (Shakspere), is kinsman to Justice Silence 
 and godson to Puntarvolo, a lawyer's clerk, the son of 
 a yeoman, though a gentleman himself; a rook, a 
 painted jay ; he and Asotus are birds of a feather, the 
 self-same individual; and in Cynthia's Revels Hedon 
 speaks of Asotus as : — " some idle Fungoso, that hath 
 got above the cupboard since yesterday." Act. iv. sc. 1. 
 
 Carlo Buffoue, " thou Grand Scourge," is of course 
 Marstou, the author of the Scoin-ge of Villianie. 
 
 Fastidious Brisk is consequently Decker. 
 
 Shift is Captain Bobadil tamed down and put to his 
 shifts. 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 17 
 
 Deliro and Fallace are the same individuals as Albius 
 and Chloe in the Poetaster. 
 
 Asper or Macilente is Jonson " with his wild quickset 
 beard." 
 
 The rustics cutting down Sordido after hanging 
 himself, is paraphrased from the clowns in Hamlet, and 
 Plowden's Report had been previously alluded to amongst 
 the law-books. Certain characters then run through 
 these three comedies, and may be thus arranged : — 
 
 Every Man out of his Humour. Cynthia's Bevels. Poetaster. 
 
 Puntarvolo. 
 
 Amoi-phus. 
 
 
 Fungoso. 
 
 Asotus. 
 
 Ovid. 
 
 Carlo BuiFone. 
 
 Hedon. 
 
 Crispinus. 
 
 Fastidious Brisk. 
 
 Anaides. 
 
 Demetrius. 
 
 Deliro. 
 
 Citizen. 
 
 Albius. 
 
 Fallace. 
 
 His wife. 
 
 Chloe. 
 
 The characters of Sordido, Pungoso, and Fallace, and 
 Fido, like Obba, strewing flowers on the ground, as well 
 as the words, macilente, and the Isles Fortunate, leave 
 no doubt Jonson had seen the Academic Timon 
 before "he wrote Every Man out of his Humour. The 
 following passage is regarded as a reflection against 
 Twelfth Night and the romantic drama: "as of a duke 
 to be in love with a countess, and that countess to be 
 in love with the duke's son, and the son to love the 
 lady's waiting maid ; some such cross wooing." 
 
 To this attack Shakspere indignantly replied by 
 painting Jonson as Don John in Much Ado about 
 Nothing : Marston and Decker appear as Claudio and 
 Benedick in the opening of the play, and Beatrice's 
 remark, "Is there no young squarer now, that will 
 
18 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 make a voyage with him to the devil?" is clearly 
 an allusion to Fungoso's admiration for Fastidious 
 Brisk. The following extract is very significant; 
 Conrade says to Don John : — 
 
 Con. " You have of late stood out against your brother, 
 and he hath ta'en you newly into his grace; where it is 
 impossible you should take true root, but by the fair weather 
 that you make yourself; it is needful that you frame the season 
 for your own harvest. 
 
 D. John. I had rather be a canker in a hedge, than a rose 
 in his grace ; and it better fits my blood to be disdain'd of all, 
 than to fashion a carriage to rob love from any ; in this, though 
 I cannot be said to be a flattering honest man, it must not be 
 denied that I am a plain-dealing villain." 
 
 and Don John further observes^ " that young start-up 
 (Claudio) hath all the glory of my overthrow ; if I can 
 cross him any way^ I bless myself every way." These 
 words are mild compared with Macilente's hatred of 
 Carlo. Marston was a prophane jester, and that accounts 
 for Claudio's observation; — 
 
 Claud. " All, all ; moreover, God saw him when he was 
 hid in the garden." 
 
 The comedy ends just as pointedly as it opened, since 
 Decker (Benedick) was the one selected to write against 
 Jonson : — 
 
 JBene. " Think not on him till to-morrow ; I'll devise thee 
 brave punishments for him." 
 
 Having given vent to his wrath in Much Ado about 
 Notliing, Shakspere then, filled with those gentle dis- 
 positions, which Gifibrd grants him, attempts the 
 soothing process in the beautiful comedy of As you like 
 
SHAKSPEllE AND JONSON. 19 
 
 it ; in which Joiison is pointed at as Oliver, and, we 
 presume, the young Orlando is our gentle Willy. 
 
 Jonson was a posthumous son, brought up by his step- 
 father ; and the following lines apparently allude to that 
 circumstance ; on returning from the wrestling inatch 
 Orlando is thus addressed by Adam : — 
 
 ^dam. " O unhappy youth, 
 
 Come not within these doors ; within this roof 
 The enemy of all your graces lives : 
 Tour brother — [no, no brother; yet the son — 
 Tet not the son ; — I will not call him son, — 
 Of him I was about to call his father."] 
 
 The passage describing the repentance of Duke 
 iVederick is probably an allusion to Jonson' s conver- 
 sion to Popery : — 
 
 " Where, meeting with an old religious man. 
 After some question with him, was converted 
 Both from his enterprize, and from the world, 
 His crown bequeathing to his banish'd brother." 
 
 The circumstance of this comedy being founded on 
 one of Lodge's novels, affords us a beautiful example, 
 not of Shakspere's idleness and carelessness about his 
 plots, but of the kindliness of his disposition; this is 
 clearly shown by the change of names, Saladyne and 
 Rosader into Oliver and Orlando ; whether in the novel 
 the scene is placed in the woods of Arden I know not ; 
 but it has been pointed out in the Footsteps of Shakspere, 
 that Greene's Orlando Furioso was a good-humoured 
 satire on Marlowe ; in which play we find the woods of 
 Arden, and the hanging of sonnets on the trees, as well 
 as the names of Orlando and Oliver. There can then 
 be no doubt, that in this beautiful comedy, Shakspere's 
 
20 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 mind is fondly dwelling on old times and friends long 
 since passed away : — 
 
 Dead shepherd ! now I find thy saw of might ; 
 Who ever loo'd, that lov'd not at first dgM?* 
 
 Act iii. sc. 5. 
 
 After this analysis of Every Man out of his Humour, 
 the reader perhaps will not be surprised to find the same 
 characters in Every Man in his Humour. 
 
 In this comedy. Justice Clement is evidently intended 
 for Lyly ; his threatening Cob with imprisonment for 
 speaking against tobacco is enough to convict him: 
 Cob's date of having been his neighbour eighteen years 
 answers exactly to the publication of Euphues in 
 1580:— 
 
 Cob. " 0, the justice, the honestest old brave Trojan in 
 London ; I do honour the very flea of his dog. A plague 
 on him, though, he put me once in a villainous filthy fear ; 
 marry, it vanished away like the smoke of tobacco ; but I was 
 smoked soundly first." 
 
 the last words remind us again of Lafeu, " he was first 
 
 smoked by the old lord Lafeu." 
 
 That master Stephen, the country gull, is Shakspere, 
 is no less distinctly marked ; — he stands much on his 
 gentility and his reasonable good leg ; " Avhy you 
 know," says Stephen, " an a man have not skill in the 
 hawking and hunting languages now-a-days, I'll not give 
 a rush for him ; they are more studied than the Greek 
 or the Latin." Like Shakspere, Stephen objects to 
 tobacco, " none, I thank you, sir." 
 
 Master Mathew, the town gull, is a satire on Daniel, 
 
 * A quotation from Marlowe's Mero and Leander. 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 21 
 
 clearly shown by the parody on the first stanza of the 
 Sonnet to Delia, and the offensive remarks accompanying 
 it, ''these paper-pedlars, these ink-dablers;" and 
 Mathew's observation, "Downright brags, he will give 
 me the bastinado," is an allusion to Jonson's satirical 
 remarks. 
 
 G-eorge Downright, a plain Squire, is of course 
 Jonson. 
 
 As Hermogenes in the Academic Timon is afraid 
 of Laches, just as Master Mathew is of Downright, it 
 may be presumed, the character was written in ridicule 
 of Daniel ; and we thus arrive at the probability the 
 play was produced about Christmas, 1598, and partly 
 founded on Every Man in Ms Humour, since Downright 
 and the two gulls appear to be the prototypes of Laches, 
 Hermogenes, and Gelasimus, and however wretched the 
 composition of this piece may be considered, the author 
 has certainly shown considerable originality, since Cal- 
 limela, is the germ of PaUace and Chloe, and Philargurus 
 of Sordido, whilst Pungoso and Asotus are far more 
 nearly allied to Gelasimus than to Master Stephen the 
 country gull. 
 
 To this gratuitous and most malicious attack of jB«ery 
 Man in his Humour,* Shakspere replied in Twelfth Night 
 by ridiculing Jonson as Sir Andrew Aguecheek : — 
 
 * This play bears marks of having been founded on the Merry Wives 
 of Windsor ; and it follows, Bobadil is another satirical portrait of 
 Marlowe, whom Jonson must have seen and probably knew ; and his 
 appearance in the following play as Shift, agrees exactly with the account 
 of Marlowe : — 
 
 " Now strutting in a silken sute. 
 Then begging by the way." 
 
22 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Sir And. " I'll stay a month longer, I am a fellow o' the 
 strangest mind i' the world ; I delight in masques and revels 
 sometimes altogether. 
 
 Sir To. Art thou good at these kickshaws, knight ?" 
 
 Act i. sc. 3. 
 Sir. To. " He is a knight, dubbed with unbacked rapier, 
 and on carpet consideration ; but he is a devil in private 
 brawl; souls and bodies hath he divorced three." 
 
 Act iii. sc. 4. 
 His love of wine is not forgotten : — 
 Mar: "They that add moreover, he's drunk nightly in 
 your company." 
 But we should lamentably mistake the feelings and 
 indignation of Shakspere, at being so grossly played 
 upon, if we limited his revenge to the humourous 
 character of Sir Andrew ; he had a far sharper shaft in 
 his quiver;— and when Sir Andrew laughs at the 
 ridiculous contortions and grimaces of Malvolio, 'tis 
 Jonson laughing at the image of his own inordinate 
 vanity and presumption. 
 
 In this most veracious of histories, this model of 
 biography, there has been no cooking ; long, long ago, it 
 was written, " Biron is not the germ of Benedick ; he 
 was played upon ; but had an}^ one attempted to play 
 upon Biron they would have caught a Tartar."* 
 
 On making a more minute inspection of Every Man 
 in his Humour, we find Shakspere is also represented as 
 young Welbred, and Jonson as his friend, Edward 
 Knowell; who is, as old Knowell [Chapman] says, 
 "almost grown the idolater of this young Welbred." 
 In Twelfth Night Shakspere returns the compliment bv 
 painting Jonsou as Sebastian, and Capt. Antonio would 
 
 * Footsteps of Shakspere, p. 91. 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 23 
 
 be Chapman. As Sebastian is beloved by Olivia, whilst 
 Shakspere, as the Duke, is rejected by this haughty and 
 reserved beauty, who then can Olivia be, the adored of 
 two poets ? her name tells us, she must be the classical 
 muse the olive, the emblem of Minerva and Athens ; 
 whilst Viola is the romantic muse, the virgin violet, the 
 primy spring, the Floscula of Endymion. By the 
 marriage of Olivia with Sebastian, Shakspere pays a 
 beautiful tribute to Jonson as a classical scholar. 
 
 Furthermore, as Jonson appears to have had Ford in 
 view in the character of Kitely, it follows by a very 
 simple process of deductive philosophy, the two Burghers 
 in The Merry Wives of Windsor must be Daniel and 
 Drayton, the two sonnet-poets at the Court of Cynthia, 
 and consequently sweet Ann Page is the expression of 
 Shakspere's admiration for Delia ; whilst the fat knight's 
 wooing of Mesdames Page and Ford is a humourous 
 allegory of his admiration and rivalry of those two 
 poets. 
 
 I take this opportunity of noting, that in the Comedy 
 of Errors, the two brothers or twins, Antipholis of 
 Ephesus and of Syracuse, are Shakspere and Greene; 
 Adriana would be Greene's dramatic muse, and the 
 courtezan would represent his novels. It has been 
 shown in the Footsteps of Shakspere, that the double 
 strength of Corsites in Lyly's Endymion, refers to 
 Greene's two-fold qualification of writing " stories or 
 poetries;" and Shakspere, in the Comedy of Errors, 
 seeks to soothe the wounded vanity and jealousy of his 
 friend by representing his own muse as the younger 
 sister of Greene's, and urging him to cease " paltering 
 
24 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 up something in prose," and to devote his talents to 
 the drama. 
 
 Again, in Romeo and Juliet, whilst Juliet is the 
 sonnet-muse,* Helena is the dramatic musej this 
 allegory is repeated in the Midsummer- Nigh fs Dream ; 
 — the more these allegorical figures are examined into, 
 the more clear, distinct, and visible they become. 
 
 Having thus given, in Twelfth Night, his quid pro quo, 
 Shakspere, in Henry V., offers Jonson the olive-branch 
 of peace, complimenting him in the character of Jamy as 
 a brave captain of great expedition and knowledge in the 
 ancient wars ; and in the prologue, giving a courteous 
 reply to the prologue of Every Man in his Humour ; 
 but Ben, it seems, preferred being " a canker in a hedge 
 to a rose in his grace ;" and again in As You Like it, 
 Shakspere makes another generous offer of reconcilia- 
 tion, which apparently had no effect on Jonson, for we 
 find him in Cynthia's Revels holding up to ridicule both 
 Shakspere and Lyly in a still more marked and offensive 
 manner ; consequently, it is not surprising, that after 
 so much and such uncalled-for provocation, Shakspere's 
 forbearance at last gave way. 
 
 It has been shown in Shakspere, Sidney, and Essex, 
 and in ' Juliet ' Unveiled, that in several of the early 
 plays the figures of certain dramatists and courtiers 
 stand forth more or less prominent, both dramatist and 
 courtier being represented under the same character; 
 and it would appear, these plays have been constructed 
 on the same plan with similar art or artifice. That 
 Shakspere, in Timon, points at the Earl of Essex we 
 
 * Vide 'Juliet' TJureiled. — S'otes and Queries, 3rd S., it., 181. 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 25 
 
 cannot doubt, and whilst the old soldier, for whom 
 Alcibiades is so much interested, would be Sir Roger 
 Williams, Apemantus may be more covertly pointed at 
 Bacon, who was at that time exposed to popular odium 
 as a false friend to the disgraced earl. We may also 
 feel certain, notwithstanding the intense passion of the 
 poet, the play was written before the death of Essex, 
 otherwise Shakspere would scarcely have satirised him 
 as the general Alcibiades with his two mistresses. It 
 was the persistent malice of Jonson, the irony more 
 polished and the sneer more pointed, in Cynthia's Revels, 
 that excited his anger. It may also be suspected, Essex 
 is pointed at in the " academic Timon," whilst Bacon 
 may be the orator Demeas, who is saved from being cast 
 into prison by Timon's generosity. 
 
 Again, in As You Like it, Essex appears to be pointed 
 at in the banished Duke, and especially in the melan- 
 choly Jaques, a character, be it noted, that was added 
 by the poet, and which is as strictly applicable to Essex 
 as Alcibiades in Timon of Athens. Frederick, the usurper, 
 we presume, is Cecil. But as this comedy was founded on 
 Lodge's novel, we readily recognise Lodge himself in 
 the banished Duke, and Greene in Frederick, distinctly 
 marked by Lodge's withdrawal from the stage, and by 
 Greene's repentance on his death-bed ; and it has already 
 been shown, that in Oliver and Orlando, Shakspere had 
 in his remembrance Greene and Marlowe; hence it 
 follows, in Celia and Rosalind we have a repetition of 
 the beautiful allegory of Olivia and Viola, as the classical 
 and the romantic muse; and Shakspere has prettily 
 changed the name of Alinda in the novel, into Celia or 
 
 c 
 
26 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 the celestial, whilst Rosalind was not only Lodge's own 
 muse, but also of Spenser, the bard of romance. How- 
 ever fanciful these opinions may appear, I hold them to 
 be true, and have more delight in discovering these 
 imaginary diamonds in the gardens of Shakspere, than 
 picking up nuggets of gold in the fields of Australia. 
 
 In Mitch Ado about Nothing, it is acknowledged, 
 William Herbert is shadowed in Benedick, and we may 
 suspect, Don Pedro is Sir Walter Ralegh, and Claudio, 
 the Earl of Southampton, who went with Sir Robert 
 Cecil to France in February, 1598, "leaving behind 
 him a very desolate gentlewoman, who hath nearly 
 cried out her fairest eyes. They were probably married 
 before his departure ; but it was said by the gossips, 
 the marriage did not take place till late in the summer." 
 Don John might be Lord Thomas Howard, Viscount 
 Bindon, with whom Sir Walter had a violent quarrel 
 just about this period. Vide Gentleman's Magazine, 
 vol. xli.. New Series. 
 
 Again, in Twelfth Night, we feel confident Ralegh is 
 the Duke, as may be gathered from the following 
 lines : — 
 
 " Steeet violets, Love's paradise, that spread 
 Your gracious odours, which yon couched bear 
 
 Within your paly faces. 
 Upon the gentle wing of some calm breathing wind. 
 
 That plays amidst the plain, 
 If by the favour of propitious stars you gain 
 Such grace as in my lady's bosom place to find. 
 
 Be proud to touch those places 1 " 
 
 And how natural, from the lips of Sir Walter, is the 
 exclamation : — 
 
SBAKSPERG AND JONSON. 27 
 
 " Too old, by heaven ; let still the woman take 
 An elder than herself; " — 
 
 Act ii., scene 4. 
 
 and thus crumbles into dust the foundation-stone of 
 Shakspere's domestic unhappiness. 
 
 It has been said, there is a statue in every block of 
 marble; and Shakspere seems to have regarded any 
 remarkable character, warrior, or statesman, as a man. 
 mountain, out of which might be struck so many living 
 figures ; Essex to him was such a mass ; and although 
 it may be doubted, whether Timon was written before 
 or after the earl's death, yet we know. Hotspur had 
 played his hour on the stage by Shrewsbury clock 
 before 1599, yet has he traits in his character singularly 
 applicable to the later career of Essex; and whilst it 
 must have been a labour of love to paint Southampton 
 as Prince Hal and Henry V., we can scarcely doubt. 
 Sir Robert Cecil is shadowed in that arch political 
 dissembler, Henry the Fourth; "a, prototype of dip- 
 lomatic cunning," says Gervinus, — " he has rather 
 wished than ordered .Richard's death." It may al?o be 
 suspected, the Earl of Suffolk in Henry VI. is another 
 figure struck out of Essex. 
 
 However confident the writer may be in the correct- 
 ness of these views, he does not pretend to press them 
 on the reader; but as Shakspere undeniably, in hi* 
 earlier as well as in these later plays, shadowed certain 
 dramatists and courtiers in the dramatis persona, it 
 may be "assumed, he pursued a similar course with 
 regard to the principal characters in the intermediate 
 plays. 
 
28 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 It may be surmisedj Jonson also in some degree 
 followed his example, and it is possible, he has satirised 
 Ralegh in Puntarvolo, and William Herbert in Fasti- 
 dious Brisk. 
 
 That there had been about this period a tempestuous 
 quarrel between Shakspere and Jonson, the following 
 extract is of itself sufficient evidence, and fully justifies 
 the explanation that has been given of these plays. In 
 the Return from Parnassus, 1602, Kempe says to Bur- 
 bage : — " Few of the University pen play well ; they 
 smell too much of that writer, Ovid, and that writer. 
 Metamorphosis, and talk too much of Proserpine and 
 Jupiter. Why, here's our fellow Shakspere puts them 
 ill down : ay, and Ben Jonson too. O that Ben Jonson 
 i a pestilent fellow, he brought up Horace giving the 
 poets a pill ; but our fellow Shakspere hath given him 
 a purge that made him bewray his credit." 
 
 Furthermore, it appears, that Jonson received from 
 Henslowe, "the 22 June, 1602, in earnest of a book 
 called Richard Crook-back, and for new adycions for 
 Jeronymo, the sum of xlb." — "From the sum advanced 
 on this play," says Gifford, " the managers must have 
 thought well of it. It has perished, like most of the 
 pieces brought out at their theatre, because they endea- 
 voured to keep them in their own hands as long as 
 possible." 
 
 But 'tis a pity Richard Crookback has not been pre- 
 served, we might then have compared him with lago, 
 for who can doubt, that lago is "malignant Ben." 
 The following extracts speak for themselves : — 
 
 Rod. " Thou told'st me, tliou didst hold him in thy hate. 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 29 
 
 layo. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of 
 the city. 
 In personal suit to make me his lieutenant, 
 Oft capp'd to him : — and, by the faith of man, 
 I know my price, I'm worth no worse a place." 
 
 " O villainous ! I have looked upon the world for 
 four times seven years." 
 
 " The Moor is of a free and open nature, 
 That thinks men honest, that but seem to be so ; 
 And will as tendeiiy be led by the nose. 
 As asses are." 
 
 Cass. " He (lago) speaks home, madam ; you may relish 
 him more in the soldier than in the scholar." 
 
 lago is here identified with Macilente : — 
 Car. " O, he's a black fellow, take heed of him. 
 Sog. Is lie a scholar or a soldier? 
 
 Car. Both, both." — 
 
 Every Man out of his Humour, Act i., sc. 1. 
 
 Cassio, like Claudio, is Marston; and Montano, 
 Beatrice's signior Montanto, is Decker. 
 
 As the exact dates of Othello and Troilus and Cressida 
 are not knownj and as it is now acknowledged Jonson 
 was born in 1573, Othello may have been, like Timon, 
 written at fever-heat as an instant reply to the Poetaster ; 
 and was followed by Troilus and Cressida, just as Much 
 Ado About Nothing was by As You Like it, though in a 
 very different mood. This supposition is confirmed by 
 the character of the two dramas, the one being all fire 
 and passion, the other a more elaborate and satirical 
 composition. As Troilus " ne'er saw three and twenty," 
 and as he may be regarded, like Benedick, a compli- 
 
80 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 mentary portrait of William Herbert, it may be con- 
 jectured, this play was composed in the autumn of 1 602 ; 
 it also becomes probable, the Earl of Southampton is 
 intended by Diomedes. 
 
 In this "Comical Satire," Troilus and Cressida, it 
 never entered into Shakspere's head nor dawned on his 
 imagination, to ridicule Homer and the Iliad, any more 
 than I or Punch, in onr harmless jocularity, might be 
 guilty of treason to the shades of Hamlet or Othello. 
 His object in this inimitable parody was to prove his 
 knowledge of Greek, and take his revenge on Jonson 
 and Marston ; and well has he repaid the former for his 
 classical attack in the Poetaster. 
 
 We thus see, that to each of Jonson's attacks Shaks- 
 pere returns a two-fold blow, at first in a friendly and 
 courteous spirit, but as the malevolence of the one 
 increases, so rises the indignation of the other, till at 
 last " honest, honest lago " is the expression of Shaks- 
 pere's scorn and disgust. It may, however, be judged 
 from the Apologetical Dialogue, that the castigation, 
 the " putting-down," Jonson had received, was followed 
 with beneficial results ; and as Shakspere played a part 
 in the tragedy oi Sejamts in 1603, we may presume, the 
 two contending poets were reconciled by the interference 
 of mutual friends. Jonson was at the same time recon- 
 ciled to Marston and Decker. 
 
 We all know, Shakspere knew how to forgive, but 
 can the same favourable view be taken of Jonson's 
 conduct ; envy and jealousy, so long nourished, are not 
 80 easily rooted out; a personal hostility from his 
 twenty-second year, apparently causeless, against three 
 
SBAKSFERE AND JONSON. 31 
 
 such men as Daniel, Lyly, and Shakspere, is at least a 
 singular circumstance, and it would seem the peace 
 lasted scarcely two years. 
 
 In 1605 was brought out Vi.lpone, or the Fox; in 
 this comedy Shakspere is ridiculed as Sir Politick 
 Would-be, whilst Jonson appears as Peregrine, a gentle- 
 man traveller. I shall make only a few extracts, and 
 refer the reader to the scenes themselves : — " My dearest 
 plots " must mean the historical plays ; and " Marry, 
 sir, of a raven that should build in a ship-royal of the 
 king's," is an allusion to Jonson's Masqtie of Blackness, 
 the Queen having a short time before " expressly in- 
 joined" the poet to prepare a Masque. Sir Politick's 
 remark, "Alas, sir, I have none, but notes drawn out 
 of play-books," answers for itself. The joke of Sir 
 Politick being concealed under a tortoise-shell, must be 
 a satirical stroke at Caliban, and it would appear, the 
 Tempest had been written some months previously, or 
 else corrected and augmented according to Shaksperian 
 usage: — 
 
 Per. " And call you this an ingine ? 
 
 Sir P. M_v own device. 
 
 1 Mer. St. Mark ! what beast is this? 
 
 Per. It is a fish. 
 
 Farewell niost politick tortoise ! " — 
 
 Tlie Fox, Act v., scene 2. 
 There cannot be a doubt of Ben's translation into 
 'Ban, 'Ban, Ca-Caliban. The following extracts evi- 
 dently allude to lago and the drunken bricklayer; these 
 passages are probably the retort courteous for some 
 fresh outburst of Jonson's anger at the rejection of 
 Sejanus : — 
 
33 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Trin. " By this liglit, a most perfidious and drunken 
 
 monster; when his god's asleep, he'll rob his bottle. 
 
 S£e. Thou shalt be my lieutenant, monster, or my 
 standard. 
 
 Trin. Your lieutenant, if you list; he's no standard. 
 
 S(e. 'Steal hy line and level;' I thank thee for that 
 jest. 
 
 Trin. Monster, come, put some lime upon your fingers." 
 
 — The Tempest, Act iv. 
 
 From their fondness for finery it is evident, Stephano 
 (Shakspere) is Stephen and Fungoso in Every Man in 
 and out of his Humour, and Trinculo is Decker. 
 
 Shakspere's reply to the Fox was that wonderful 
 drama. King Lear, in which Jonson is marked out most 
 clearly and unmistakably as Edmund; and it should 
 not be overlooked, the character is an episode, and not 
 in the original history. As Oliver in As You Like it 
 can scarcely be called his father's son, is and is not ; 
 and as Don John in Much Ado About Nothing is the 
 bastard brother of Don Pedro, so Edmund is the bastard 
 brother of Edgar, begot "under the dragon's tail; and 
 my nativity was under ursa major ; so that it follows I 
 am rough and lecherous": — 
 
 Kent. " Is not this your son, my lord ? 
 Glo. His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge ; I have 
 so often blush'd to acknowledge him ; that now I am brazed 
 to it." 
 
 " He hath been out nine years, and away he shall 
 again." — 
 
 Lear, Act i., scene 1. 
 
 This play is supposed to have been written in the 
 autumn of 1605, and as Every Man in his Humour was 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 33 
 
 brought out in November, 1596, consequently " he hath 
 been out nine years/' 
 
 Nor is it easy to resist the impression, that the fol- 
 lowing lines have a personal application : — 
 
 Edg. " Maugre thy strength, youth, place, and eminence, 
 Despite thy victor sword, and fire-uew fortune, 
 Thy valour and thy heart,— thou art a traitor. 
 False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father." 
 
 The allusions to Jonson in this passage are peculiarly 
 apposite, " thy strength, youth, thy victor-sword," and 
 fire-new-fortune, refers to his having written the Masque 
 of Blackness by express command of the Queen; whilst 
 "false to thy gods " is as good as a date ; for only a few 
 months previously, Jonson had made a solemn recanta- 
 tion of his popish errors ; unfortunately his heart 
 remained unchanged, a Jesuit still in a Protestant 
 guise- 
 
 As Gloster loses his eyes through the treachery of 
 Edmund and by the hand of Cornwall, the latter must 
 be Marston, and Albany, Decier ; which opinion is 
 confirmed by the first sentence in the tragedy : — 
 
 Kent. " I thought, the king had more aifected the Duke 
 
 of Albany than Cornwall." 
 
 The faithful Kent represents Chapman, who was born 
 in 1557, "I have years on my back forty-eight;" and 
 Gloster must be Lyly. This interpretation is again 
 confirmed by the wrangle between Kent, Steward, and 
 Cornwall; — Jonson, as the Steward, is clearly pointed 
 out: — 
 
 Kent. " My lord, if you will give me leave, I will tread 
 
 this unbolted villain into mortar, and daub the wall of a 
 
 Jakes with him." 
 
34 SHAKSPEKE AND JONSON, 
 
 " That such a slave as this should wear a sword, 
 
 Who wears no honesty." 
 "A plague upon your epileptick visage! " 
 
 " None of these rogues and cowards. 
 But Ajax is their fool." — 
 
 Act ii., scene 2. 
 
 The last extract must be a reminiscence of Thersites. 
 Marston is no less distinctly marked by the following 
 imitation of his style : — 
 
 Kent. " Sir, in good sooth, in sincere verity. 
 
 Under the allowance of your grand aspect, 
 Whose influence, like the wreath of radiant fire 
 Ou flickering Phoebus' front, — 
 
 Corn. What mean'st by this ? 
 
 Kent. To go out of my dialect, which you discommend so 
 much." 
 
 Kent being put into the stocks, is of course a satirical 
 allusion to Chapman's imprisonment for ridiculing King 
 James in Eastward Hoe. 
 
 Let us now take a look at Marston, and see what 
 light he throws on this contest. In the Introduction 
 to his Works, edited by Mr. Halliwell, we read in an 
 extract from Gifford : " the works which our author 
 (Jonson), had chiefly in view, were the Scourge of 
 Villanie and the two parts of Antonio and Mellida. In 
 the former of these, Jonson is ridiculed under the name 
 of Torquatus, for his affected use of ' new-minted words, 
 such as real, intrinsicate, and delphicke,' which are all 
 found in his earliest comedies, so that we have here, in 
 fact, little more than the retort courteous." — " It is but 
 fair to add that, whatever Marston might think of the 
 present castigation, he had the good sense to profit by 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 35 
 
 it, since his latter works exhibit but few of the terms 
 here ridiculed/' 
 
 It is evident GifFord's sagacity is again at fault 
 through his own perversity; as Marston scourged 
 Jonson " for his affected use of new-minted words," it 
 is just possible, the words and phrases, ridiculed in the 
 Poetaster, were intentionally coined by Marston in 
 ridicule of Jonson, and on looking into Antonio and 
 Mellida such appears to be the fact ; for the first part 
 is evidently a burlesque poem or comedy ; — Piero is a 
 satire on Jonson; Feliche, a gentle reminiscence of 
 Macilente ; and Bobadil and Master Mathew may 
 be the prototypes of Matzagente and Castilio ; — in the 
 second or tragical part, Piero becomes a most villainous 
 copy of Claudius, whilst Marston and Shakspere appear 
 as Andrugio and his son Antonio, or the Ghost and 
 Hamlet ; Antonio in a fool's habit is the counterpart of 
 Hamlet's feigned madness ; and Maria and Mellida are 
 of course the Queen and Ophelia. This second part, or 
 Antonio's Revenge, is undoubtedly founded on the first 
 sketch of Hamlet, ed. 1603. — Decker is represented by 
 Alberto, a poor Venetian gentleman, in love with 
 Rosaline, probably a copy of Rosaline in Love's Labour's 
 Lost. 
 
 The epilogue to the first part being armed, very likely 
 gave Jonson the hint of the armed prologue in the 
 Poetaster; and he probably also caught the idea of 
 ridiculing Romeo and Juliet from the speech at the 
 commencement of the fourth act, where Antonio dis- 
 guised, escapes from the palace pretending to be in 
 pursuit of Antonio : — 
 
36 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON, 
 
 Ant. " Stop, stop Antonio, stay, Antonio- 
 
 "Vain breath, vain breath, Antonio's lost ; 
 He can not find himself, not seize himself, 
 Alas, this that you see is not Antonio," 
 
 First Part, Act ir. 
 
 The following extracts must be satirical strokes 
 levelled at Jonson, or some other writer : — 
 
 Bal. "Retort and ohtuse; good words, very good words/' 
 " Respective ; truly a very pretty word." 
 " Pathetical and unvulgar ; words of worth." 
 
 Second Pari. 
 
 Here we are reminded of Twelfth Night : — 
 
 Sir And. " Good Mistress Jlary Accost," &c. 
 
 " That youth's a rare courtier ! Rain odours ! well." 
 " Odours, pregnant, and vouchsafed : — I'll get 'em all 
 three ready." 
 
 It would thus appear that Jonson very cleverly 
 turned the tables on Marston. by pretending to take the 
 new-minted words in Antonio and Mellida in a serious 
 light ; but though the public may have been gulled by 
 Jonson's ingenuity, the laugh would still be at his 
 expense in literary circles j and in the following year 
 Marston published Antonio and Mellida. Even in his 
 ridicule of Sliakspere as Asotus, the prodigal with his 
 two pages, the beggar and the fool, Jonson borrows his 
 satire from Twelfth Night : — 
 
 Sir To. " Why he has three thousand ducats a year. 
 Mar. Ay, but he'll have but a year in all these ducats ; he's 
 a very fool, and a prodigal." 
 
 From the following passage we may infer the first 
 part of Antonio and Mellida was brought out abo\it 
 Christmas, 1599, and that Marston was born in 1575 : — 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 37 
 
 Bal. " Lymne them ? a good word, lyinne them : whose 
 picture is this? Anno Domini, 1599. Believe me, master 
 Anno Domini was of a good settled age when you lymn'd him. 
 1599 years old ? Let's see the other. Etalissuce'Hi. EirLadie, 
 he is somewhat younger. Belike master Etatis Suae was 
 Anno Domini's son." — 
 
 Act v., scene 1. 
 
 The Malcontent. — On comparing the characters in 
 this play with those in Antonio and Mellida, we have in 
 the latter. Andrugio, the banished duke of Genoa, with 
 his wife Maria; and Piero, duke of Venice; — in the 
 Malcontent, Altofront (Ma,rston), disguised as Malevole, 
 is the banished duke of Genoa, Pietro (Jonson), is the 
 usurping duke; Celso, the friend of Altofront, is of 
 course Decker. 
 
 In this powerful drama, Marston has given us two 
 vigorously drawn characters; Malevole is the author 
 himself, and that "huge rascal" Mendoza, might have 
 been a life-like portrait of Shakspere the man himself, 
 had yaw predominated over brow; and it may be sur- 
 mised, we are indebted to this play for the magnificent 
 character of Othello, the grand contrast, the mighty 
 opposite to Mendoza. 
 
 lago's restless jealousy about the Moor's too great 
 familiarity with his wife, has reference to this play,* 
 where Pietro (Jonson), is similarly jealous of Mendoza 
 (Shakspere). This view of the intimate connexion of 
 these two dramas is confirmed by the circumstance, that 
 
 * The Malcontent was probably produced about ChristinaB, 1600, 
 and transferred a few weeks after, to Burbage and Co., in consequence 
 perhaps of a money-difference with Henslowe. 
 
38 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 whilst logo's wife is named Emilia, and Cassio's mis- 
 tress, Biancha, the two ladies attendant on the Duchess 
 Aurelia, are also named Emilia and Biancha ; such a 
 coincidence can scarcely be accidental. Furthermore, 
 on examining Troilus and Cressida, we may reasonably 
 suspect Marston is painted as Pandarus ; and at the end 
 of the play Pandarus gives us the plain-spoken language 
 of Marston, and does not hesitate to " nominate a spade 
 a spade." Shakspere was perhaps led to give this 
 character to Marston from Malevole's frequent jests on 
 that subject. 
 
 This play, the Malcontent, being free from the words 
 ridiculed by Jonson in the Poetaster, is strong evidence 
 such new-minted words were used by Marston iu 
 Antonio and Mellida in a burlesque sense. 
 
 The Dutch Courtezan probably followed close on the 
 heels of the Poetaster, as Marston's retort courteous to 
 that play. Both Shakspere and Jonson are unmistakably 
 ridiculed therein; the one as young Freevill, and the 
 other as Malheureux, his unhappie friend ; and we may 
 presume the author amuses himself as Cocklederaoy, a 
 wittie Citie jester. But Shakspere is very gently, even 
 kiadly handled in this comedy, and it may, not inaptly, 
 be said, the two poets join in laughing at Jonson as 
 Malheureux, a parody on Crites. Marston is in a very 
 good humour, not at all affected by the emetic pills in 
 the Poetaster. 
 
 Freevill's expression, "my dear Lindabrides," is an 
 allusion to Asotus in Cynthia's Revels, Act iii., scene 3 ; 
 the sweet innocent Beatrice, engaged to be married to 
 Freevill, appears, like Mellida, intended for Ophelia ; 
 
SHAKSFERE AND JONSON. 39 
 
 this supposition is coafirmed by the oft expressed wish 
 of Francischina : — 
 
 jPra. " Freevill is dead, Malheiireux sal hang. 
 
 And swete divel, dat Beatrice, would but run mad, dat 
 She would but run mad ; den me would dance and sing." 
 
 — Act v., scene 1. 
 
 and Beatrice's melancholy observation, " sister, cannot 
 a woman kill herself? is it not lawful to die when we 
 should not live ?" looks like a reminiscence of " Is she 
 to be buried in Christian burial, that wilfully seeks her 
 own salvation?" 
 
 Crispinella, Beatrice's sister, thus describes Freevill, — 
 " But thy match, sister, — by my troth I think 'twill do 
 well; he's a well shapt, cleane-lipp'd gentleman, of a 
 handsome, but not affected fineness, a good faithful eye, 
 and a well-humord cheeke ; would he did not stoope in 
 the shoulders for thy sake." — Act iii., scene 1. The 
 nurse thus describes him : — " heers Mistress Beatrice is 
 to be married, with the grace of God; a fine gentleman 
 he is shall have her, and I warrant a stronge; he has a 
 leg like a post, a nose like a lion, a brow like a bull, and 
 a beard of most fair expectation ;" the last phrase 
 reminds us of Asotus' beard, " which is not yet extant j" 
 and of the words of Petulus in Midas, " my concealed 
 beard." 
 
 All, however, ends well ; Malheureux is ciured of his 
 love, and escapes the gallows for the murder of his 
 friend, by the reappearance of Freevill j whilst Cock- 
 ledemoy and MuUigrub settle their diflBculties to mutual 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Eastward Hoe is the joint production of Chapman, 
 
40 SHAKSPEEE AND JONSON. 
 
 Jonsoiij and Marston ; on examination it falls readily 
 into three divisions, and there can scarcely be a doubt, 
 the first act was written by Jonson, the second and 
 third acts by Marston, and the two last by Chapman. 
 That the play is an attack on Shakspere is clearly 
 shown by the ridicule cast on Hamlet and Ophelia in 
 the third act; and it is equally certain Shakspere is 
 satirised as the idle apprentice, Francis Quicksilver. 
 
 The following lines smack of Shakspere. Enter 
 Quicksilver drunk : — 
 
 Quick. " Eastward hoe ! Holla, ye pampered ladies of Asia !" 
 " Sfoote ! lend me some mony ; hast thou not Hyren 
 here ?" 
 Quick. " When this eternal substance of my soul " — 
 Touch. " Well said, change your gold ends for your ])lay ends. 
 Quick. " Did live imprison'd in mj' wanton flesh " — 
 Touch. " What then, sir ?" 
 
 Quick. " I was a courtier in the Spanish court, and Don 
 Andrea was my name." 
 
 Act. ii., sc. 1. 
 
 The latter lines are evidently a parody on the cele- 
 brated passage in Measure for Measure : — 
 
 " Ay, but to die, and go we know not where ; 
 To lie in cold obstruction, &c." 
 
 Act. ill., sc. 1. 
 
 In the characters of Sir Petronel Flash and his friend 
 and admirer Quicksilver, we have a repetition of Fasti- 
 dous Brisk and Fungoso; consequently Sir Petronel 
 must be Decker; Jonson of course is Goulding, the good 
 apprentice, and Lyly being depicted as Touchstone adds 
 greatly to the raciness of this malicious satire. 
 
 Although much ink has flowed from able pens, yet the 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JON SON. 41 
 
 question remains unsolved, whether Love's Labour Won, 
 mentioned by Meres in 1598, was the Tempest or All's 
 Well that Ends Well. It is easily granted, the comic 
 scenes in the Tempest may have been at this time some- 
 what altered, and pointed at Jonson ; but as Eastward 
 Hoe appears to be such an unprovoked attack, Shakspere, 
 we may feel confident, would have his revenge, be it 
 wrathful or humourous ; and at the very opening of the 
 Tempest we find, Prospero has his three enemies in his 
 power ; consequently if this romantic drama be a reply 
 to Eastward Hoe, Prospero must represent Shakspere j 
 — Antonio: Jonson j — Alonso : Chapman; — and Sebas- 
 tian : Marston ; — no other solution of the allegory, no 
 other placing of the characters, can be admitted ; and 
 on examination Sebastian is found to be Marston, drawn 
 exactly according to Jonson's account of Carlo BufFone, 
 — " a public, scurrilous, and profane jester, that more 
 swift than Circe, with absurd similes, will transform any 
 person into deformity :" — 
 
 Seb. " He receives comfort like cold porridge." 
 
 " Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit ; 
 By and by it will strike." 
 
 " As if it had lungs and rotten ones." 
 
 Act. ii., sc. 1. 
 
 ByAlonso's deep grief Shakspere might mean, Chapman 
 regretted or ought to have been ashamed of his conduct. 
 It has been previously shown, that Stephano and 
 Trinculo are Shakspere and Decker; both of them being 
 drunk, getting wet, and losing their bottles in the pool, 
 and " you'd be king of the isle, sirrah," evidently refers 
 
42 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 to the ducking Quicksilver and Sir Petronel got in the 
 Thames, in the Pool just below Wapping old stairs ; vide 
 Eastward Hoe, Act iv., sc. 1 
 
 Antonio's remark must be an act of self-recogni- 
 tion: — 
 
 ^nt. " Very like ; one of them 
 
 Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable." 
 
 Nor has Shakspere forgotten his old friend Lyly, as 
 Gonzalo, the honest old counsellor. 
 
 From the intimate connexion between these two plays, 
 so clear and unmistakable, it follows, the Tempest must 
 have been originally composed after Eastward Hoe, and 
 consequently All's Well that Ends Well must be Love'r 
 Labour's Won. 
 
 In the Tempest, as in As you Like it, Shakspere's 
 mind is again dwelling on olden times ; this is made 
 manifest by the remark of Prospero to Ariel : — 
 
 " Imprison'd thou didst painfully remain 
 A dozen years." 
 
 Act i., sc. 2. 
 
 As the Tempest was brought out in the spring of 1605, 
 a dozen years carries us back to 1593, when the Mid- 
 summer Niffht's Dream was composed, and Jonson com- 
 menced his dramatic career. In the conception of Ariel 
 Shakspere evidently had Puck in liis recollection ; Ariel 
 is Prospero's assistant, and discharges similar offices, 
 just as Puck attends on Oberon ; and the expression, "I 
 go, I go," used by both, clearly shows the connexion in 
 the poet's mind. This connexion or resemblance being 
 granted, it follows, Ariel must be another translation, 
 and a divine one into the realms of light, of Nash, who 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 43 
 
 died about two or three years before the appearance of 
 the Tempest. It is interesting to see, how Shakspere, 
 to soften the tone of his imbittered feelings in his 
 quarrels with Jonson, turns his thoughts to his old 
 friends and foes ; the character of Moth and Puck, — of 
 lago and Caliban, mark unmistakably the difference of his 
 feelings towards his two persecutors. Nor did Shakspere 
 bear any ill will against Marston, in whom there seems 
 to be something jolly and hearty. 
 
 But behind these dramatic figures , so visible through 
 the transparent veil of the Tempest, may be seen 
 another set of figures equally interesting. These 
 Knes : — 
 
 " or that there were such men, 
 Whose hands stood in their breasts? which now we find 
 Each putter-out on five for one, will bring us 
 Good warrant of," 
 
 have furnished one of the strongest arguments, that the 
 Tempest must have been written in 1596; but they are 
 merely a sign-post or door-plate, that Sir Walter 
 Ralegh is here ; we have a similar passage in Othello's 
 speech, when he gives an account of his wooing of Des- 
 demona : — 
 
 " And of the Cannibals that each other eat. 
 The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads 
 Do grow beneath their shoulders." 
 
 We are justified in believing, this passage also is a sign 
 or mark of Sir Walter, a diagnostic symptom, literally 
 " a mark of wonder " like the mole or sanguine star on 
 the neck of Guiderius; it is by these delicate touches or 
 hints the dates of several plays have been determined. 
 
44 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 As Othello's speech is so peculiarly suitable to Sir 
 Walter, so descriptive of his courtship of Elizabeth, 
 daughter of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, there cannot be 
 a doubt, that in the Moor the romantic dramatist 
 has given us a portrait of the Elizabethan hero. This 
 supposition is confirmed by the fact, that Sir Walter 
 Ealegh was appointed to the government of Jersey 
 about a year before Othello was appointed governor of 
 Cyprus ; and we may suspect, the " will as tenderly be 
 led by the nose as asses are " is a gentle reminiscence of 
 " I should have savoured very much of an ass " in the 
 Discovery of Guiana. As Bacon appears to be pointed 
 at in Apemantus, so may Sir Robert Cecil in lago ; and 
 Roderigo would be Cobham, who was played upon by 
 Cecil, just as Roderigo is by lago. 
 
 In the Tempest the two knights, the heroic Ralegh 
 and the crafty Cecil, are represented by the two Dukes of 
 Milan, Prospero and Antonio j King James is Alonso, 
 King of Naples ; and Sebastian, the sarcastic jester, may 
 well stand for Sir Edward Coke, the king's attorney ; 
 and Ferdinand * is William Herbert : — 
 
 * Ferd. " Admir'd Miranda — 
 
 for seTeral virtues 
 Have I lik'd several women ; never any 
 With so full soul, but some defect in )ier 
 Did quarrel with the noblest grace she ow'd, 
 And put it to the foil : But jou, O you, 
 So perfect, and so peerless, are created 
 Of every creature's best." 
 
 Tempest, Act iii., so. 1. 
 
 Bene. " One woman is fair ; yet I am well : another is wise, yet 
 I am well : another virtuous ; yet I am well ; but till all graces be in 
 one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace." 
 
 Much Ado about Nothing, Act ii., so. 3, 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 45 
 
 Tro. My brother, and thy uncle, call'd Antonio, — 
 I pray thee, mark me, — that a brother should 
 Be so perfidious ! 
 
 Of temporal royalties 
 He thinks me now incapable : confederates 
 [So dry he was for sway] with the king of Naples, 
 To give him annual tribute, do him homage ; 
 Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend 
 The dukedom, yet unbow'd, [alas, poor Milan !] 
 To most ignoble stooping. 
 
 Now the condition. 
 This king of Naples, being an enemy 
 To me inveterate, hearkens my brother's suit ; 
 Which was, that he in lieu o' the premises, — 
 Of homage, and I know not how much tribute, — 
 Should presently extirpate me and mine 
 Out of the dukedom ; and confer fair Milan 
 With all the honours, on my brother :" &c. 
 
 Act i., sc. 2. 
 
 Fro. Most cruelly 
 
 Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter; 
 
 Thy brother was a furtherer in the act ; — 
 
 Thou'rt pinch'd for't now, Sebastian. — Flesh and 
 
 blood, 
 Tou brother mine, that entertain'd ambition, 
 ExpeU'd remorse and nature." 
 
 Act v., sc. 1. 
 
 As the Tempest is a reply to Eastward Hoe we may 
 suspect Sir Petronel Flash is a satire on Sir Walter 
 Ralegh ; his imprisonment. Lady Flash's fruitless 
 journey eastward after her husband's enchanted castle, 
 and the name of the play, all have reference to the 
 Tower. It is gratifying to know, the three malicious 
 wits met with retributive justice, and were imprisoned 
 with the pleasant prospect of having their ears and noses 
 
46 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 slit more probably oa account of the following joke on 
 his Majesty, than for a satire on the Scots : — 
 
 1. Gent. "On the coast of Dogges, sir; y'are i'th 
 Isle of Dogges, I tell you, I see y'ave bin washt in the Thames 
 here, and I believe ye were drowned in a tavern before, or else 
 you would never have toke boat in such a dawning as this was. 
 Farewel, farewel ; we will not know you for shaming of you. 
 / ken the man weel; Jte's one of my thirty pound knight»." 
 
 Act iv., sc. 1. 
 
 It seems, however, these three playwrights were also 
 making themselves merry at the expense of one of King 
 James' own thirty pound knights, or at least of his lady 
 in the character of Girtred ; Bacon was desirous of being 
 knighted, " because I have found out an Alderman's 
 daughter, a handsome maiden, to my liking." He was 
 knighted with three hundred others on the 23rd July, 
 1603, the day of the coronation, and " the handsome and 
 rich Miss Barnham speedily became Lady Bacon." 
 lAves of the Lord Chancellors.* 
 
 From the happy termination of each play, it is pro- 
 bable the public did not anticipate for Sir Walter a very 
 
 • Bacon and his handsome maiden were not married till 1606 ; and 
 from the account of Mrs. Barnham in the Personal History of Saeon, 
 it may be inferred, the mother rather than the daughter was the person 
 ridiculed. It is curious to see, how closely the history of Bacon and 
 Cole resembles t he story of Shakspere and Jonson. The following remarki 
 remind us of Jonson's satire : — " They had spoken of his vanity, of hit 
 presumption, of his dandyism, of his unsound learning and unsafe law. 
 
 Coke had called him a fool. Cecil had fancied him a dui>e." And 
 
 «o they served Ralegh ; but Shakspere with all his good-nature, gentle- 
 ness, and poetical temperament, was, as .Jonson found to his cost, 
 neither a fool nor a dupe j he had the determined will, that Bacon 
 wanted, and an insight into man, that neither Ralegh nor Bacon had ; 
 and whilst he might have stood for his own Hamlet, Bacon might bar* 
 been the Hamlet of Goethe and Coleridge. 
 
SHAKSFERE AND JONSON. 47 
 
 prolonged imprisonment, which, however, extended from 
 1603 to March 1616. 
 
 As the Tempest is a reply to Eastward Hoe, Caliban's 
 rejoicing over his freedom shows it must have been 
 written after the release of the three prisoners; 
 and Ariel's song justifies the inference, it was brought 
 out in May or early in June j nor can there be a doubt, 
 the Mask of Ceres was composed in direct competition, 
 as a contrast in its chaste simplicity and classical purity, 
 to Jonson's gorgeous Masque of Blackness, which had 
 been performed at Court on the previous Twelfth Night 
 with unusual magnificence. As Jonson prides himself 
 on having written the Poetaster in fifteen weeks, we may 
 judge of his intense disgust and rage at being translated 
 into Caliban by his boast of having "fully penn'd" the 
 Fox in five weeks. 
 
 It has been suggested, that in the line "Freedom, 
 hey-day, hey-day," Shakspere may have had an eye to 
 the song of Prosaites : — 
 
 " Come follow me, &c. hey-day, hey-day ; 
 And help to bear a part. Hey-day, hey-day." 
 
 Oynthia'i Revels, Act ii., sc. 1. 
 
 It is, however, equally probable, Shakspere had also 
 in his recollection the following lines at the end of the 
 tragedy of " Sejanus ; His Fall :" — 
 
 Sen. " And praise to Macro, that hath saved Eome ! 
 Liberty, liberty, liberty ! Lead on, 
 And praise to Macro, that hath saved Rome !" 
 
 There cannot be a doubt, that in the character of 
 Sejanus, Jonson has satirised Shakspere; Chapman 
 would be Cremutius Cordus, and Jonson, Arruntius and 
 
48 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Macro, and Silius may represent Marston. This 
 thoroughly knavish trick was concocted between Jonson 
 and Marston; whilst Shakspere, so unsuspicious and 
 " as easily led by the . nose as an ass/' innocently 
 believing in the general pacification, was induced to act 
 a part in the drama. By comparing the characters of 
 Sejanus and Livia with Mendoza and Aurelia in the 
 Malcontent we find, Jonson has no less justly than 
 courteously styled his own lines " weaker and no doubt 
 less pleasing'' than his coadjutor's in the original play; 
 the speech of Sejanus at the opening of the second scene 
 second act, is probably one of the altered passages. This 
 production being so purely classical and so distinct in 
 its satire from the comedies, may account for Shakspere's 
 Fall into this Confederate trap. On discovering by the 
 jests and inuendos at the Mermaid the scurvy trick, the 
 sell, for it's worth no other name, that had been played 
 upon him, Shakspere in his wrath hangs up Jonson in 
 a few lines as the drunken Barnardine in Measure for 
 Measure, appropriately so named : — 
 
 Duke. " What is that Barnardine, who is to be executed 
 this afternoon?" 
 
 Prov. " A Bohemian bom ; but here nursed up and bred : 
 one that is a prisoner nine years old." 
 
 Act iv., sc. 2. 
 
 This play must have been, like Timon, an instant 
 reply, and was probably produced in the autumn of 1603, 
 just nine years since Jonson's imprisonment in 1594. 
 
 Jonson is also severely handled in the character of 
 Angelo. After reading Marston's plays and the poem of 
 Pygmalion's Image the reader will readily perceive, 
 
SHAKSPEllE AND JONSON. 49 
 
 Marston is accurately delineated as the satirical and 
 plain-spoken Lucio; consequently Claudio must be 
 Decker. Shakspere generally speaks through the Duke, 
 in whom appears to be shadowed that easy and familiar 
 monarchy King James ; and Escalus is probably intended 
 for Chapman. 
 
 Whether the tragedy of Sophonisba was written before 
 or after Macbeth may be dubious^ but we are therein 
 reminded of that drama ; it has a ghost, a witch, and at 
 the end a fight between Syphax and Massinissa ; a sus- 
 picion then arises, Macbeth is not quite free from the 
 shadow of Jonson ; that the propulsion given to Shaks- 
 pere's poetic fury by Volpone was not exhausted in Lear, 
 but flowed over into Macbeth : — 
 
 Oi/i. " Like to the Pontiok sea, 
 
 Whose icy current and compulsive course 
 Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on 
 To the Propontick ana the Hellespont ; 
 Even so my bloody thoughts." 
 
 Othello, Act iii., sc. 3. 
 
 and thus it may be presumed, in Macbeth and Macduff 
 we have repeated the hid sense of Edmund and Edgar. 
 
 As Jonson peers through the thin guise of Syphax, 
 probably Scipio and Lcelius represent Marston and 
 Decker ; and the noble Massinissa must be Shakspere, 
 for whom Marston seems to have the highest esteem 
 and affection ; his abuse being more a love of mischief, 
 boisterous fun than iU-will ; but, like Shakspere, he 
 generally paints Jonson as envious, malicious, and un- 
 grateful. 
 
 Sophonisba was followed apparently by W.'iat you Will, 
 
 D 
 
50 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 published in 1607; in this comedy the poet Lampatho 
 Doria is acknowledged to be the author himself; and with 
 equal certainty it may be added, Quadratus is Jonson, 
 and Laverdui-e, Shakspere, and Faber Simplicius may 
 be intended for Decker. 
 
 Laverdure thus describes himself: — " a straight leg, a 
 plump thigh, a full vaine, a round cheeke ; and, when it 
 pleaseth the fertility of my chinne to be delivered of a 
 beard, 'tmll not wrong my kissing, for my lippes are 
 rebels and stand out." It would seem, Shakspere had 
 a genuine English countenance, a fresh complexion, with 
 his little trim Elizabethan beard, and was not a haiiy 
 leopard like Greene; whilst "my lippes are rebels" 
 coincides exactly with Nash's description, " and hang the 
 lip like a capcase half open," and " a little bit of the 
 teeth shewing " in the bust at Stratford. 
 
 Having reviewed Marston's plays, we can now form 
 a more correct view of this triple or tripartite contest. 
 We may take, as a secure basis or ground to build 
 upon, Jonson's three Comical Satires, as he calls them 
 Every Man out of his Humour was brought out in 
 1599; Cynthia's Revels, in 1600; and the Poe^os^er, in 
 1601. Shakspere replies to the first in Much ado about 
 Nothing, followed by As you Like it ; about the same 
 time, Marston brings out the first and second parts of 
 Antonio and Mellida; Shakspere then, indignant at 
 the fresh insults offered to himself and Lyly, in the cha- 
 racters of Amorphus and Asotus, pours forth his wrath 
 on Jonson as Apemantus, and repays Marston for the 
 travesty of Hamlet, by painting him as the Athenian 
 general, Alcibiades, a brave soldier but of dissolute 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 51 
 
 morals. Marston retaliates on Shakspere in the Mal- 
 content ; and Jonson in the Poetaster takes his revenge 
 on both of them. Marston replies again iu the Dutch 
 Courtezan, and Shakspere repays both Jonson and 
 Marston in Othello, as well as in Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 It may also be conjectured, Marston's attack on 
 Hamlet was the immediate cause of its being re- written 
 at this period ; Shakspere being, by a singular coinci- 
 cidence, in the same bilious and irritable mood as in 
 1588, having literally two duels on his hands. 
 
 Furthermore, as the amended Hamlet, though entered 
 at the Stationers' Company iu 1602, was not published 
 till 1604, it becomes highly probable. King James' 
 slight to the memory of Queen Elizabeth, in not allow- 
 ing any person in black to approach his presence, gave 
 Shakspere the hint for the alteration in the speech of 
 Laertes : — 
 
 Laer. " My gracious Lord, your favouvable licence, 
 Now that iJie funeral rites are all perforuied, 
 I may have leave to go again to France." 
 
 Ed. 160 
 L-ier. " Dread my Lord, 
 
 Your leave and favour to return to France ; 
 From whence, though willingly, I came to Denm; 
 To show my duty in j'our coronation." 
 
 Ed. 1604. 
 
 We thus see, Shakspere's knowledge of man was n. 
 mere instinct, " but crescent, 
 
 as this temple waxes, 
 The inward service of the mind and soul 
 Grows wide withall." 
 
 Let us now take a look at Decker. In 1601, Jonson 
 
52 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 had raised up against himself a host of enemies, law- 
 yers, soldiers, and players, and Decker had been " put 
 forward by the rest, and as he was not only a rapid but 
 a popular writer, the choice of a champion was not 
 injudicious." Of the Satiromastix Gifford says, — " In 
 transferring the scene from the court of Augustus to 
 England, Decker has the inconceivable folly to fix on 
 William Rufus, a rude and ignorant soldier, whom he 
 terms ' learning's true Moecenas, poesy's king,' for the 
 champion of literature, when his brother Henry I. who 
 aspired to the reputation of a scholar, would have 
 entered into his plot with equal facility." But William 
 Rufus, "learning's true Maecenas, poesy's king," it 
 may be presumed, was the ignorant William Shakspere, 
 " skilled in the hawking and hunting languages ;" so 
 that Decker's selection appears to have been peculiarly 
 appropriate. The wits of Elizabeth were not asleep. 
 
 In this comedy, Shakspere is King William, and 
 Lyly is Sir Vaughan ap Rees; the remark of Tucca, 
 " be not so tart my precious Metheglin," identifies 
 Lyly with Amorphus, reminding us of the Metheglin 
 and Pythagorical breeches in Cynthia's Revels, which, 
 I hold, are satirical allusions to his transmigrations 
 through Sir Hugh Evans and Captain Pluellen ; whilst 
 in the remark, "you nasty Tortois, you and your itchy 
 poetry break out like Christmas, but once a year," we 
 have probably the germ of Caliban. 
 
 Northward Ho appears to have been an immediate 
 reply to Eastward Hoe ; — Greenshield and Featherstone, 
 two worthless profligates, are Jonson and Marston; 
 and Hornet may be intended for Chapman. The 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 53 
 
 honest citizen Mayberry is Decker, and his friend, the 
 worthy poet Bellamont, is of course Shakspere; and 
 . possibly " Have I given it you, master poet ? did the 
 limebush take?" may have been the origin of the 
 jesting in the Tempest about limetrees, and " I thank 
 thee for that jest, steal by line and level." 
 
 The three lovers of Doll, as well as Hornet and his 
 two serving-men, are no doubt intended as additional 
 ridicule of the three authors of Eastward Hoe. 
 
 Bellamont is a very excellent character, but he has a 
 spendthrift for a son, and pays his debts to release him 
 from prison J this young gentleman, Philip, is also an 
 admirer of Doll, and says to his father, — "You have 
 often told me the nine Muses are all women, and you 
 deal with them : may not I the better be allowed one 
 than you so many." It may then be surmised, Philip 
 is Decker himself, whose life appears to have been a 
 hopeless struggle with poverty ; he was frequently con- 
 fined for debt, and was on one occasion assisted by 
 Alleyn the player. It is probable, he has here grace- 
 fully and gratefully acknowledged his obligations to 
 Shakspere. 
 
 The satire in this comedy is decidedly against Jonson 
 rather than Marston. 
 
 Westivard Ha may have been composed about Christ- 
 mas, 1604 ; the three citizens. Honeysuckle, Wafer, and 
 Tenterhook, are the three authors of Eastward Hoe. 
 
 In these two comedies. Northward Ho and Westward 
 Ho, three is the winning figure. In the one we have 
 the landlord and his two waiters, and Doll's three 
 lovers ; in the other, three jealous citizens; and in the 
 
54 SHAICSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Tempest, Prospero has his three enemies at his mercy ; 
 these are three very remarkable coincidences, and 
 capable, apparently', but of one interpretation. 
 
 As Chapman was a joint labourer in the production 
 of Eastward Hoe, it becomes probable, something may 
 be found in his dramas throwing additional light on this 
 contest, and in BiLssy D'Ambois, published in 1606, we 
 cannot doubt, that D'Ambois is intended for Jonson, 
 and Monsieur for Marston; this opinion is fully justified 
 by the friendly exchange of personal abuse between 
 Bussy and Monsieur in the third act ; the reader will 
 perhaps excuse the insertion of the lines, as they are 
 rather too sti'ong for modern ears. The following pas- 
 sage identifies Jonson with Bussy : — 
 
 Maff. ''■ By your no better outside, I would judge you 
 
 To be a poet," — 
 " That is strange, 
 
 Y'are a poor soldier, are you ? 
 Buss. I am a scholar, as I am a soldier." 
 Gui. " Thou art a bastard to the Cardinal of Ambois." 
 
 On finding Kent's abuse of the Steward in Lear to 
 correspond so accurately with the language used by 
 Chapman in Bussy D'Ambois, it follows, the faithftd 
 Kent is a portrait of Chapman, and that Bussy D' Ambois 
 preceded Lear, which probably was not brought out till 
 Christmas, ICOo, as Kent has "years on his back forty- 
 eight." Consequently, Chapman, as well as Marston, 
 must have had a quarrel with Jonson immediately after, 
 or rather before the Fox; for it may be suspected. 
 Chapman and Marston are satirised in the characters of 
 Corbaccio and Voltore, whilst Mosca [Jonson] befools 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 55 
 
 them and vivisects Volpone [Shakspere]. The origin 
 of the difference may have been Jonson's arrogance 
 after the success of the Masque of Blackness, for D'Am- 
 bois is described as capable of any villainy, " do anything 
 but killing of the king." We do not suppose ' there 
 was any personal quarrel on this occasion, merely a 
 dramatic explosion, and, like enough, the wit-combats 
 at the Mermaid proceeded as usual, only sharpened by 
 a little tartaric acid to the attic salt. Ben, now finding 
 the whole court of Cynthia against him, wisely deemed 
 discretion the better part of valour, and did not continue 
 the contest, contenting himself with the honours of 
 being first courtier or Fawne at the court of Phoebus. 
 
 On further examination and reflection, we become 
 more and more assured, Sophonisba preceded Macbeth ; 
 that Shakspere was pleased and flattered by being por- 
 trayed as Massiuissa, and repaid Marston by shadowing 
 him in Banquo. It was the powerful genius, burning 
 through these two tragedies, the Malcontent and Sopho- 
 nisba, that excited Shakspere's emulous admiration, void 
 of envy. 
 
 That there had been a dramatic contest between 
 Shakspere and Jonson, the writer of these pages cannot 
 doubt; that there had been at one time a personal 
 quarrel can scarcely be doubted; and it is certain, 
 Jonson must have been acquainted with Shakspere, 
 Lyly, and Daniel before 1598, or even 1596, probably 
 a frequenter at the Mitre, but the good men little knew, 
 there was a chiel amang "em takin' notes. 
 
 After this fierce struggle, this gladiatorial contest, 
 there seems to have been peace for several years ; but 
 
56 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 on looking into the Silent, Woman, 1609, and the 
 Alchemist, 1610, we find undeniable evidence another 
 quarrel had occurred, or at least another dramatic con- 
 test is raging. 
 
 In the Silent Woman Shakspere is ridiculed as Sir 
 John Daw, whose intimate friend, Sir Amorous La Foole, 
 wc may suspect, is a caricature of Inigo Jones. Sir 
 John makes his appearance as a Shakescene and a Crow ; 
 tlie following lines are home-thrusts : — 
 
 Baup. " Admirable ! 
 
 Clar. How it chimes, and cries tink in the close, 
 divinely ! 
 
 Daup. Ay, 'tis Seneca. 
 
 Clar. No, I think 'tis Plutarch. 
 
 Law. The dor on Plutarch and Seneca ! I hate it : they 
 are mine own imaginations, by that light. I wonder those 
 fellows have such credit with gentlemen. 
 
 Clar. They are very grave authors. 
 
 Daw. Grave asses ! mere essayists : a few loose sen- 
 tences, and that's all." 
 
 The observation about comparing " Daniel with Spen- 
 ser, Jonson with t'other youth," has been remarked 
 upon as a flirt at Shakspere and a sneer at Daniel, but 
 it is still more remarkable as a specimen of Jonson's 
 vanity. Sir John and Sir Amorous both terminate their 
 career ignominiously, giving up their swords and sub- 
 mitting, the one to so many kicks, and the other to 
 " tweaks by the nose sans nom,hre." 
 
 In the Alchemist Shakspere appears as Dapper, a 
 greedy and credulous lawyer's clerk, a frequenter of the 
 Dagger and the W:^olsack, two ordinaries or gambling 
 houses of the lowest and most disreputable kind. 
 
SHAKSPERB AND JONSON. 57 
 
 Amongst other things, " {they blind him with a rag] to 
 show he is fortunate/' and the Fairy Queen and fairies 
 pinch him, in allusion to Falstafif. 
 
 But Dapper, and Sir Politick in the Fox, are merely 
 sign-posts ; in these two master-pieces of Jonson, the 
 Fox and the Alchemist, honest lago shows he has studied 
 the art of war under his great commander, Othello; 
 Shakspere is aimed at both as Volpone and as Sir 
 Epicure Mammon, and though the one is a guU and the 
 other guUs, yet the basis of each character is the same, 
 lust and covetousness. 
 
 As Sir John Daw is spoken of as " living among th€ 
 wits and braveries too, ay, and being president of them," 
 and Dapper is promised : — 
 
 " those that drink 
 To no mouth else, will drink to his, as being 
 The goodly president mouth of aU the board," 
 
 it may be inferred Shakspere was president of the 
 Mermaid Club. In these two comedies, the Silent 
 Woman and the Alchemist, Jonson appears as Truewit 
 in the one, and Lovewit in the other. 
 
 Shakspere's courteous reply to the sneering insults in 
 the Silent Woman was that magnificent drama Corio- 
 larnis, in which Jonson appears as Aufidius, and also as 
 the tribune Sicinius ; Shakspere speaks chiefly through 
 Coriolanus : — 
 
 " They have a leader, 
 Tuttus Aufidius, that will put you to it : 
 I sin in envying his nobility : 
 he is a lion. 
 That I am proud to hunt." — 
 
 Act i., scene 1. 
 d2 
 
58 SHAK.SPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 As the two tribunes are so similar in character, they 
 may be regardedj and were perhaps intended, for one 
 individual, substance, and shadow; — "thou Triton of 
 the minnows," and " hadst thou foxship to banish him," 
 plainly mark Sicinius as Jonson; to which may be 
 added the words of Aufidius, " five times, Marcius, I 
 have fought with thee ;" thus we unmask the intention 
 of the poet, for Jonson had had five pitched battles with 
 Shakspere : — Every Man in and out of his Humour, 
 Cynthia's Revels, Poetaster, and the Fox. The following 
 passage reminds us of Cynthia's Revels, where Fungoso 
 is spoken of as delighting to make a fool of himself, and 
 Crites calls him a jackdaw; of course it has reference 
 to the name of Sir John Daw : — 
 
 3 Ser. " I'tlie city of kites and crows ! — What an ass it 
 is ! — then thou dwellest with daws too ? 
 Cor. No, I serve not thy master." 
 
 Act iv., scene 5. 
 
 In Menenius we have our old friend John Lyly ; that 
 he is intended for a life-like portrait is evident from 
 these extracts : — 
 
 " I tell thee, fellow, 
 Thy general is my lover : 1 have been 
 The book of his good acts, whence men have read 
 His fame unparallel'd.'' — Act v., scene 2. 
 Cor. " This last old man, 
 
 Whom with a crack'd heart I have sent to Rome 
 Loved me above the measure of a father ; 
 Nay, godded me indeed." — Act v., scene 3. 
 
 We are here reminded of the Merchant of Venice : — 
 
 JSass. " 1'he dearest friend to me, the kindest man, 
 The best condition'd and unwearied spirit 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 59 
 
 In doing courtesies ; and one in whom 
 The ancient Homan honour more appears. 
 Than any that draws breath in Italy." 
 
 Act iii., scene 3. 
 The Dapper impertinence in the Alchemist, Shakspere 
 retaliates by laughing at Jonson as the rogue Autolycus 
 in the Winter's Tale ; and by painting him also as the 
 jealous Leontes, we are reminded of the translation of 
 Greene and Nash into Oberon and Puck. Shakspere 
 speaks chiefly through Polixenes and the clown. 
 
 Jonson and Inigo Jones acted together in producing 
 the Masque of Queens, February 2, 1609; and as Jones 
 appears to be satirised in the Silent Woman, it is just 
 possible, as he was architect to Prince Henry, and in 
 favour with King James, that Camillo is a representation 
 of that celebrated man, "of a nature generous and 
 noble." The good Polixenes bears evident marks of 
 being a portrait of good King James, and the observa- 
 tion, so objectionable to the Reverend Mr. Hunter, may 
 be a trait of his Majesty's hasty temper : — 
 
 " I am sorry, that, by hanging thee, I can but 
 Shorten thy life one week." 
 
 Act iv., scene 3. 
 
 Although, in 1610, Jonson produced the Masque of 
 Oberon and the Barriers, written to celebrate the 
 creation of Henry Prince of Wales on the 4th of June ; 
 yet he did not take any part in the celebration of the 
 marriage of the Princess Elizabeth; and it has been 
 remarked as a most singular circumstance, his muse is 
 silent on the death of Prince Henry ; and it appears, he 
 must have fallen into disgrace at Court about this 
 period : — 
 
60 SHAKSPERE AND J0N30N. 
 
 Aut. " I have served Prince Florizel, and, ra my time, 
 wore three pile ; but now I am out of service." 
 
 " I cantiot tell, good sir, for which of his virtues it 
 was, but he was certainly whipped out of the court." — 
 
 Act iv., scene 3. 
 
 But in this romantic drama, as in As You Like it, 
 Shakspere^s mind is again reverting to old times, and 
 in the character of Leontes he is thinking far more of 
 Greene than of Jonson. We are justified in this suppo- 
 sition by the comedy being founded on Pandosto, a 
 novel of Greene's, by the name of Mamillius, also taken 
 from another novel, Mamillia ; there must also be some 
 definite meaning attached to the number (23) twenty- 
 three : — 
 
 Leon. " Looking on the lines 
 
 Of my boy's face, methought I did recoil 
 Twenty-three years." 
 
 " Twenty-three days 
 They have been absent : 'Tis good speed." 
 
 " Nine changes of the watery star " may denote, the 
 play was brought out nine months after the Alchemist ; 
 and it must have been a recent production in May, 
 1611, since Dr. Forman noted it down so minutely in 
 his diary. If it was first acted in March or April, 
 twenty-three years would carry us back to 1588, when 
 Shakspere had a quarrel with Greene and Nash, and at 
 which time his son Hamnet was three years old, and 
 Greene had a son about twelve months younger; Pan- 
 dosto, also, was first printed in 1588. 
 
 The following dates are equally precise and definite : — 
 Time, as Chorus, says, " Impute it not a crime, that I 
 slide o'er sixteen years;" and Camillo speaks of the 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 61 
 
 death of Hermione sixteen winters ago; but he had 
 previously said, " it is fifteen years since I saw my 
 country ;" and yet he left Sicilia before Perdita. This 
 difiference in Camillo's measurement of time is most 
 probably intentional, as well as characteristic ■ of the 
 forgetfulness of age ; for as Jonson was married in 
 1594, he may have had a daughter in 1595, as he cer- 
 tainly had a son in 1 596, in which year he also produced 
 Every Man in his Humour ; if Shakspere, then, really 
 alludes to this period, it can only proceed from a most 
 kind and conciliatory spirit, since it may be regarded 
 as about the happiest portion of Jonson's life, whilst in 
 the same year Shakspere's only son died, of whom 
 Mamillius may be regarded as a tender and affectionate 
 reminiscence, twin-brother to Arthur in King John; 
 Shakspere had hazel eyes, but Mamillius has " a welkin 
 eye," and Edward III. thus speaks of the Prince, 
 his son : — 
 
 " His mother's visage, those his eyes are hers." 
 
 In Antigonus we meet again with our old friend 
 
 Lyly,* whilst Paulina has all the tartness of Semele, 
 
 and Leontes may justly look upon her as the wasp of 
 
 all women. It should here be added, "the characters 
 
 * Lyly's honest old face is readily recognised peering through the 
 thin disguise of the numerous characters of which he is the archetype, 
 however distinct each individual may be. Shakspere seems to hare 
 made the same use, and as affectionately of liim, as Vance did of the 
 portrait of Sophy : — " I kept it aa a study for my female heads — 
 ' with variations,' as they say in music. Commencing as a Titania, she 
 has been in turns a Psyche, a Beatrice Cenci, » Minna, a Portrait of a 
 Nobleman's Daughter, Burns' Mary in Heaven, The Young Grleaner, 
 and Sabrinafair, in Milton's Comus. I have led that child through all 
 history, sacred and profane." — What will he do with i{. Part xi.; c. 2. 
 
62 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 of Antigonus, Paulina, Autolycus, and the young Shep- 
 herdj are the creations of Shakspere:" 
 
 On reading the beautiful description of the recon- 
 ciliation of the two kings, so characteristic of the 
 forgiving spirit, of the noble and generous disposition 
 of the writer, we may reasonably suppose, all of Caliban 
 in Jonson's nature must have melted away before the 
 Miranda-like beauty of Shakspere; and it would be 
 pleasing to find, that amity was soon restored ; but the 
 commentators keep up a continual cry about his malig- 
 nant attacks and sneers against Shakspere; and this 
 Hue and Cry appears to be fuUy borne out in Bar- 
 tholomew Fair, which was produced in 1614. But 
 before proceeding further, let us make a more minute 
 inspection of the ground already gone over, for in the 
 Winter's Tale we are reminded of the beautiful allegory 
 in Twelfth Night. 
 
 On looking into Timon, we find Alcibiades accom- 
 panied by two ladies, who, it is just possible, were 
 intended to represent Marston's comic and tragic muse, 
 or the two parts of Antonio and Mellida. Again, in 
 Othello, who is the lady so wondrous fair, the gentle 
 Desdemona ? and who are Emilia and Biancha ? When 
 honest lago suspects the too great familiarity of the 
 Moor with his wife Emilia, malignant Ben confesses to 
 Shakspere's intimacy with the Grecian muse. And is 
 not the Moor's jealousy of Cassio the expression of 
 Shakspere's admiration of the Malcontent, his acknow- 
 ledgment of Marston's genius, on whom his own love, 
 the romantic muse, has bestowed her sweetest smiles, 
 her warmest kisses, like Cynthia and Endymion ? This 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 63 
 
 view of the allegorical imagery, concealed in Othello, is 
 confirmed by the intimate connexion of that tragedy 
 with the Malcontent, where Meudoza's too great fami- 
 liarity with Aurelia is Marston's acknowledgment of 
 Shakspere's classical acquirements. "Who, then,, is Fer- 
 neze, the young lover of Aurelia, whose death is caused 
 by Mendoza's jealousy ? And who is Roderigo, in love 
 with Desdemona, and killed by lago? who is this 
 young lover, for the two must be one and the same 
 person, who thus excites the jealousy of Shakspere and 
 Jonson, or rather their love and admiration? perhaps 
 we may find the solution in Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 This ' Comical Satire' this most singular production, 
 we now know is a supplement to Othello ; consequently 
 the dramatis personm must have reference to the char- 
 acters in the Malcontent and the Poetaster; and we 
 shall find the poet had a method in his madness. 
 According to Maginn, it is written in direct antagonism 
 to the Iliad, and Gervinus says : — " It is remarkable, 
 that Shakspere has in this play avoided confining him- 
 self closely to all his sources equally. — All the more 
 important actions follow accurately no single source; 
 the separate features of the story and of the characters, 
 are disconnected, and are borrowed indifiPerently, if not 
 intentionally, sometimes from one, sometimes from 
 another. — Certain passages could only be derived from 
 Homer himself."— Vol. 2, p. 303. 
 
 These extracts fully justify us in attributing to certain 
 passages a hid sense, a special meaning. Consequently, 
 by Hector's courteous language to Ajax and calling him 
 
64 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 cousin^* Shakspere marks his friendly feeling to Marston^ 
 and recognises him as a romantic poet; and when we 
 are told that Ajax "yesterday cop'd Hector in the 
 battle, and struck him down; the disdain and shame 
 whereof hath ever since kept Hector fasting and 
 waking/' can we doubt, that Shakspere is alluding to 
 the Malcontent, a play at that time unrivalled in power 
 and intensity of passion save by his own Timon. On 
 the other hand the abuse of Ajax would be a satire on 
 Marston's poetical style, his forced and turgid language. 
 When Troilus is spoken of as Hector's younger brother, 
 and "on him erect a second hope, as fairly built as 
 Hector," 'tis Shakspere confirming by anticipation the 
 critical opinion, that Fletcher is Shakspere's younger 
 brother: consequently when Ulysses slights Cressida, 
 'tis Shakspere's disapproval of young Fletcher's loose 
 and immoral muse. Fletcher was born in December, 
 1579, and therefore "had ne'er seen three and twenty 
 years" in the autumn of 1602. We can now under- 
 stand that Fletcher is shadowed iu Femeze and 
 Roderigo, and perhaps in Galeatzo, the young Prince of 
 
 • When Hector addresses Ajax : — 
 
 " That thou eould'st Bay — This hand is Grecian all, 
 And this is Trojan ; the sinews of this leg 
 All Greek, and this all Troy ; my mother's blood 
 Buns on the dexter cheek, and this sinister 
 Bounds-in my father's." — 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, Act iii., scene 5. 
 Shakspere must have had in his recollection ; — 
 Ant. " O that I knew which joint, which side, which limb. 
 Were father all, and had no mother in't, 
 That I might rip it vein by vein, and carve revenge." — 
 Antonio's Sevenge, Act iii., scene 3. 
 
SHAHSPEttE AND JONSON. 65 
 
 Florence in Antonio and Mellida. All the generals 
 kissing Cressida, is probably a satire on the excessive 
 osculation at that time, a pleasing custom grossly 
 abused. The non-observance of this custom, the gentler 
 and more polished manners of the Trojans, and Paris' 
 Gallicism, "It is great day," raise a suspicion, Shaks- 
 pere intended to shadow the French in the Trojans, 
 possibly he may have had in his recollection the meeting 
 at Boulogne, between Henry VIII. and Francis. We 
 need scarcely add, that Helen is the Grecian muse.* 
 
 The three ladies in Measure for Measure appear also 
 to be of an allegorical character; but in the Tempest we 
 "Hiannot doubt, Miranda, the daughter of Prospero, is the 
 romantic muse, beloved by Ferdinand [Beaumont], son 
 of Alonso [Chapman]. This view is confirmed by 
 Jonson in the Fox, where Celia is the classical muse, so 
 named after her in As you Like it. The characters of 
 the honest, rough-tongued Chapman as Corbaccio, and 
 of the amorous and loose-tongued Fletcher as Corvino, 
 are very distinctly marked, and also Marstou as Voltore, 
 in the second scene of the fourth act, where Corvino 
 swears he has seen the young Bonario [Beaumont], son 
 of Corbaccio, warmly kissing and embracing his wife 
 Celia. On this pretty conceit of the two poets, having 
 
 * It was a custom on the Elizabethan stage for a great actor like 
 Burbage or AUeyn, to take two or three parts in the same play j and it 
 was on this principle the comedy was constructed, but rather for 
 reading than acting. According to the playbill, Jonson was engaged 
 specially for Thersites, and also for Achilles and Meuclaus j^Marston, 
 specially for Pandarus, and also Patroelus and Ajax; — Shakspere, 
 specially for Hector, and also Paris and Ulysses ; Chapman performed 
 Agamemnon, and Ljly, Nestor ; — Troilus by Fletcher, and Diomed by 
 Beaumont. 
 
66 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 one muse in common, has been founded a story, 
 highly discreditable to the characters of Beaumont and 
 Fletcher ; such is the sad result of attaching historical 
 value to idle anecdotes. The reader will now perceive 
 the probability, nay, the certainty that in Dionied was 
 shadowed the youthful Beaumont ; at that time, in the 
 autumn of 1602, he was in his eighteenth year, it is 
 possible he may have assisted Fletcher in writing a 
 comedy, since he published a translation, or rather " a 
 huge paraphrase " from Ovid when only sixteen. 
 
 In Lear, Goneril and Regan may weU represent the 
 muses of Decker and Marston ; but be that as it may, 
 the once dearly-beloved Cordelia must be the romantic 
 muse. In her sad fate, hanged by the order of Ed- 
 mund, and in the afflicting death of Lear, we have a 
 true and graphic image of the fate of Shakspere and his 
 muse, had he listened to Jonson's classical criticisms 
 and amputated his drolleries to the measure of Ben's 
 Procrustean bed. The rejection of Cordelia by the 
 Duke of Burgundy [Fletcher], and the eager acceptance 
 of her, as " a dowry in herself," by the King of France 
 [Beau-mont], distinctly mark Shakspere's estimation of 
 the two poets ; — young Troilus had not paid attention 
 to Ulysses' opinion of Cressida, Could any biographical 
 value be attached to the liberality of Ferneze and 
 Roderigo, and to the dower-seeking of Burgundy we 
 should accede to the opinion, Fletcher inherited some 
 property but soon squandered it away. But in Ferdi- 
 nand and France we have direct evidence that Beau- 
 mont was an ardent worshipper of the Shaksperian 
 muse ; and, whilst his commendatorv lines on the Fox 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 67 
 
 are a tribute to Jonsoii's vanityj Ferdinand carrying 
 logs is an image of Shakspere's watchful care, and of 
 the severe training of the youthful poet. 
 
 In Macbeth, by shadowing Marston in Banquo, Shaks- 
 pere points at Fletcher in Fleance and we shall hereafter 
 show good cause for this opinion. 
 
 We thus see, a poetical allegory is the vital principle, 
 the delicate aroma, permeating these dramas; and in 
 none is this ethereal essence more perceptible than in the 
 Winter's Tale :— 
 
 Pol. " This jealousy 
 
 Is for a precious creature : as she's rare, 
 Must it be gi-eat ; and as his person's mighty, 
 Must it be violent ; and as he does conceive 
 He is dishonour'd by a man which ever 
 Profess'd him, why, his revenges must 
 In that be made more bitter." 
 
 Thus the jealousy of Leontes, like lago's suspicion of 
 the Moor, is another claim, made by Shakspere, of his 
 intimacy with the Grecian muse ; whilst in the marriage 
 of Florizel and Perdita is shadowed the union of the 
 Greek and romantic drama in the rising genius of 
 Beaumont. Perdita's classical character is beautifully 
 shown in her distribution of the flowers at the rustic 
 feast. — We must now away from Fairy -land to the bitter 
 trials of daily life. 
 
 In Bartholomew Fair Shakspere is delineated in the 
 ridiculous character of Proctor Littlewit, " the Littlewit 
 of London, so thou art called and something besides." 
 The commentators have pointed out in the Induction a 
 flirt at Shakspere and at Much Ado about Nothing; 
 
68 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 and also a passage, in which the Tempest and the 
 Winter's Tale are sneered at : 
 
 " If there be never a servant-monster in the fair, who can help 
 it, he says, nor a nest of antiques ? he is loth to make nature 
 afraid in his plays, like those that beget tales, tempests, and such 
 like drolleries." 
 
 The meaning of this passage is so clear and unmis- 
 takable, that nothing but wilful obstinacy could have 
 blinded GifiFord, who will not see, that the learned Ben 
 Jouson is like Dr. Johnson, a classical bigot, and here 
 denounces two master-pieces of the romantic drama as 
 drolleries or puppet-shows ; and further on, after a long 
 tirade of this " twice-sodden folly " attempting to make 
 black white, Gifford is forced to acknowledge, that 
 Jonson has caricatured Inigo Jones as Lanthom 
 Leatherhead. Nor can it be doubted, Shakspere is 
 ridiculed not only as Proctor Little wit, but also as Justice 
 Overdo and Squire Cokes. The malice of the Induction 
 denotes the pleasures of the Fair. We must not how- 
 ever omit Littlewit's account of his method of modern- 
 izing a Roman history: — "As for the Hellespont I 
 imagine our Thames here ; and then Leander I make a 
 dyer's son about Puddlewharf ; and Hero a wench o'the 
 Bankside." In March, 1613, Shakspere "bought a 
 house with ground attached near Blackfriars Theatre, 
 abutting upon a street leading down to Puddlewharf." 
 
 As Claudius died at the culminating point of his 
 iniquitous career just before Hamlet, so Jonson set 
 the seal to his own infamy just before Shakspere 
 died. In the Devil is an Ass Shakspere is grossly 
 ridiculed, and Daniel is no less grossly maligned; the 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 69 
 
 names of the characters are sufficient to condemn 
 Jonson : Shakspere : Plutarchus Gilthead and Fabian 
 Fitzdottrel ; Daniel : Ever-ill ; Jonson : Eustace Manly ; 
 and Inigo Jones: Engine; Chapman would be Sir 
 Paul Eitherside, and Decker, Thomas Gilthead. 
 
 Plutarchus is clerk to Eitherside the lawyer, he is 
 addressed, " my pretty Plutarchus," just as Tucca calls 
 Ovid " my pretty Alcibiades ;" the name is evidently 
 an allusion to the Roman plays. 
 
 Fitzdottrel, a siUy bird of the same feather as the 
 
 Daw, makes his appearance as a Shakescene and a Crow 
 
 in borrowed feathers : nor is Midas forgotten, he is both 
 
 ass and ox ; like Pungoso he is a friend to the tailor : — 
 
 " What rate soever clothes be at ; and thinks 
 
 Himself still new, in other men's old." 
 
 " out of the belief 
 He has of his own great and catholic strengths 
 In arguing and discourse." 
 The following lines are not less significant : — 
 Meer. " I think we have found a place to fit you now, sir, 
 
 Gloucester, 
 Mtz. O no, I'll none. 
 Meer. Why, sir ? 
 Fitz. 'Tis fatal, 
 
 Meer. That you say right in. Spencer, I think, the 
 younger, 
 Had his last honour thence. But he was but earl. 
 Fitz. I know not that, sir. But Thomas of Woodstock, 
 I'm sure was duke, and he was made away 
 At Calice, as duke Humphrey was at Bury: 
 And Richard the Third, you know what end he 
 came to. 
 Meer. By my faith you are cunning in the chronicle, sir. 
 Fitz. No, I confess I have it from the playbooks. 
 And think they are more authentic." 
 
70 SIIAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Meer. " To be 
 
 Duke of those lands you shall recover : take 
 Tour title thence, sir, Duke of theDrown'd Lands, 
 Or Drown'd Land." 
 " This harmless passage about the playbooks, the com- 
 mentators, Malone and Steevens in particular, are never 
 weary of recurring to with spiteful triumph ; ' all Shaks- 
 pere's historical plays are ridiculed ' by the malignant 
 Ben." Vide Gifford. 
 
 These keen hounds however, notwithstanding Gif- 
 ford's horror, were on the right scent ; but not knowing 
 who Fitz was, they missed catching the fox, Volpone 
 himself. I have in the Footsteps of Shakspere explained 
 the line in Oberon's vision, " I saw but thou couldst 
 not," by the fact that Greene was, but Nash was not 
 born, when Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne ; and 
 we have here a similar artifice ; — the observation about 
 Spenser is an allusion to Marlowe's play, Edward the 
 Second; consequently Fitzdottrel says, "I know not 
 that, sir ;" but he knows the contents of his own plays, 
 and so naively adds, " I think they are more authentic." 
 This passage alone suffices to stamp Fitzdottrel as Shaks- 
 pere. " I learn'd in it myself, to make my legs and do 
 my postures" proves, that Fitzdottrell is also a con- 
 tinuation of Asotus, the pupil of Amorphus ; and the 
 witchcraft in the fifth act is Jonson's retaliation for the 
 character of Edmund in Lear. 
 
 But the whole gist of this Satanic comedy turns on 
 deluding Fitz with the hope of being his Grace the Duke 
 of Drown'd Land ; a grand project that, strange to say, 
 never entered the head of Sir Politick Wouldbe tho' 
 dwelling in Venice ; because the moral of the tale lies in 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 71 
 
 the fact, that in 1614 Shakspere "is found at this time 
 busy about a project for the enclosure of the common 
 fields of Stratford, and is consulted on that and other 
 matters as the most public-spirited man in the town." 
 
 We thus see, how truly Hector's fate was a prefigura- 
 tion of Shakspere's : — 
 
 Hect. " Now is my day's work done : I'll take good 
 breath : 
 Eest sword : thou hast thy fill of blood and 
 death !" 
 
 We here see the poet, retired from the stage, disarm'd, 
 his sword "broken and buried certain fathoms in the 
 earth," when " even with the vail and dark'ning of the 
 sun to close the day up " comes Neoptolemus Jonson 
 with his furious and malignant Myrmidons, Bartlemy 
 and the Devil : — 
 
 " Strike, fellows, strike ; this is the man I seek. 
 On, Myrmidons ; and cry you all amain, 
 Ben Jonson* hath the mighty Shakspere slain." 
 
 Troilus and Cressida. 
 The passage where Engine whispers Meercraft— "Do 
 you remember the conceit you had of the Spanish gown 
 at home," Act ii., sc. 3, has reference to Dame Pliant in 
 the Alchemist and to the boy that acted Epiccene ; and 
 further on we read : — 
 
 Meer. " Sir, be confident, 
 
 'Tis no hard thing t' outdo the Devil in ; 
 A boy of thirteen year old made him an ass 
 But t'other day." " 
 
 Act v., sc. 3. 
 
 * Fie. "It shall be chronicled, time to come : 
 Piero Sforza slew Andmgio's son." 
 
 Antonio and Mellida, Act iii., p. 43. 
 
73 SHAKSPEEE AND JONSON. 
 
 As the Silent Woman was produced ia 1609 and Every 
 Man in his Humour in 1596, it follows the boy must have 
 been Jonson's own masculine muse, which, dressed as a 
 lady, Shakspere [Sir John Daw] mistakes for the Grecian 
 muse; the allegory is perfect, keenly satirical, well 
 worthy of a wit larded with malice ; nor can we doubt 
 that Dol in the Alchemist is a caricature of the romantic 
 muse, whilst Dame Pliant, married to Lovewit (Jonson), 
 is intended for the classical muse. 
 
 This passage proves, that Meercraft is Jonson ; for 
 how could Meercraft know anything about the Silent 
 Wbmfin and the Alchemist, unless he were a continuation 
 of one of the characters or the author himself. It 
 appears, that Meercraft is the same as Face in the 
 Alchemist ; since it is Face, who proposes to Subtle to 
 marry Dame Pliant to the Spaniard; consequently 
 Subtle is the same person as Engine, and must be 
 a satirical stroke at Inigo Jones : — 
 
 Face. " 'Tis his fault ; 
 
 He ever murmurs, and objects his pains. 
 And says, the weight of all lies upon him. — 
 Hang him, proud stag, with his broad velvet head." 
 Alchemist, Act 1., sc. 1. 
 
 As Subtle says to Face, " Here's your Hieronymo's 
 cloak and hat," it follows. Face and Meercraft are in 
 reality the author ; whilst Manly and Lovewit are ficti- 
 tious characters, which he wishes to impose on the public 
 as portraits of himself; and as the Fox and Alchemist 
 are two plays of similar construction, it can scarcely be 
 doubted, Mosca is the precursor of Face. Let Shakspere 
 and Jonson be testimonied, as the Duke says in Measure 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 73 
 
 for Measure, by their bringings forth ; — Jonson is hap- 
 piest aud most at home in painting gulls and describing 
 the tricks of rogues ; whilst Shakspere "in deep delight 
 is chiefly drowned " in dwelling on characters, of which 
 there is scarcely a trace to be found in Jonson's works j 
 and which said works, or bringings forth, fully bear out 
 Drnmmond's character of him, '-'a dissembler of ill 
 parts which rayne in him, a bragger of some good that 
 he wanteth." Thus at the end of the Alchemist, Lovewit 
 profits by the rascality of his servant, and therefore 
 forgives hiraj then Face comes forward requesting a 
 plaudite from the spectators : precious teaching of 
 morality ! our sympathies enlisted on behalf of a clever 
 rogue and a receiver of stolen goods, or at least obtained 
 under false pretences. 
 
 We must receive with some caution the statements of 
 Gilford, who instead of being the dispassionate bio- 
 grapher, sinks himself into the blind advocate. It is 
 both possible and probable Daniel may have spoken un- 
 favourably of Jonson ; but the character of Everill does 
 not fit in with Jonson's words, "he bore him no Ulwill 
 on his part." We have evidence that Shakspere in 1 614 
 was busy about a project for the enclosure of the com- 
 mon fields of Stratford ; and in 1616 Jonson, in opposi- 
 tion to Daniel, was made Poet Laureat; — in the Devil 
 is an Ass, written probably about Christmas, 1615, is a 
 Fiztdottrel, Duke of Drown'd Land, of the same family 
 as Fungoso, Asotus, and Sir John Daw, whilst Everill is 
 a candidate for the office of Master of the Dependances, 
 and makes to a lady similar insinuations against Manly, 
 as Daniel is said to have made against Jonson ; such 
 c incidences are rarelv accidental. 
 
74 SHAKSFERE AND JON SON. 
 
 It was easy for Jonson in 1623 to praise the dead 
 lioDj but we can have little confidence in his sincerity in 
 placing above the classic tragedians of Greece the 
 romantic dramatist, author of those two drolleries, the 
 Tempest and the Winter's Tale ; nor can we place much 
 reliance on his almost idolatrous affection ; it would 
 seem rather, both his praise and affeclion are a tribute 
 to public opinion. These suppositions are confirmed by 
 his statements to Drummond, and more especially in the 
 Staple of News, 1625, where Jonson ridicules Shakspere 
 as Pennyboy junior, in fact, a reproduction of Asotus in 
 love with Lady Argurion; and in January, 1629-30, 
 when the New Inn was " completely damn'd " not being 
 heard to the conclusion, if he had loved and respected 
 the memory of his friend, would he have vented his ill- 
 will on the " malicious spectators " by a sneer not only 
 at Pericles but also at Love's Labour's Lost .- — 
 
 " No doubt some mouldy tale. 
 
 Like Pericles and stale." 
 " For who the relish of these guests will fit, 
 
 Needs set them but the alms-basket of wit." 
 
 In the New /wm Jonson amuses himself with ridiculing 
 Shakspere as Fly, and Inigo Jones as Sir Glorious 
 Tipto, evidently an imitation of Don Armado and Moth. 
 This play was the cause of the subsequent hostility of 
 Inigo Jones, and not the trivial circumstance of Jonson 
 ha-idng put his name first on the title-page of a masque. 
 
 On looking back to the origin of this contest we find, 
 the first effect of Jonson's action on the Shaksperian 
 drama was the cutting short of the earthly career of Sir 
 John Falstaff, which Shakspere intended to have con- 
 
SHAKSPBRES AND JONSON. 
 
 75 
 
 tinued in Henry V. ; but his path was crossed by a 
 spectre, monstrum horrendum, informe, which Sir Toby 
 Belch ridicules with Falstaffian humour in Twelfth 
 Night, and hence Sir John is quickly despatched in 
 Henry V., that " you be not too much cloyed with fat 
 meat." 
 
 In Much Ado about Nothing we again see the dark'n- 
 ing influence of Jonson, a comedy filled with the 
 materials and verging on tragedy ; whilst the beautiful 
 and romantic drama, As you Like it, is penetrated with 
 the spirit of the melancholy Jaques : — 
 
 " Blow, blow, thou winter wind, 
 Thou art not so unkind, 
 As man's ingratitude." 
 
 But these fleecy clouds, casting a melancholy shade 
 over bright Cynthia, soon aggregate together, and in 
 Timon the storm bursts forth. Jonson is the spark, or 
 rather the sulphurous match, that has ignited the 
 combustible elements of those three volcanic eruptions, 
 Timon, Othello, and Lear. In these dramas we see, how 
 the celestial influences of Cynthia are disturbed by the 
 terresti-ial motions of malignant Ben; — the more the 
 lion roars, the more does Ursa major dance ; — the more 
 our gentle "Willy groans, the more does Macilente grin ; 
 and when Phoebe in As you Like it exclaims : — 
 
 " Dead shepherd ! now I find thy saw of might ; 
 Wlio ever lov^d, that lov'd not at first sight ? " 
 
 'tis the breathing forth of a sigh for poor Marlowe back 
 again, and Jonson ia his place. 
 
 But it would be a grievous error to regard this dra- 
 matic contest as a mere personal quarrel. Although 
 
76 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Jonson is in each instance the aggressor, yet Shakspere 
 in his reply, however indignant, only points at Jonson 
 in certain characters; and, though he gives some home- 
 thrusts, and tells some bitter truths, he no-where deli- 
 neates the man himself, unless lago be he. These 
 dramas, from first to last, are essentially aesthetical pro- 
 ductions ; or perhaps it may with still greater truth be 
 said, they fully bear out the opinion of Ulrici, who con- 
 nects the action and characterization of Shakspere's 
 dramas with the development of a high moral or rather 
 Christian principle. 
 
 As Beaumont and Fletcher were not only frequenters 
 of the Mermaid, but also on friendly terms with Jonson, 
 it becomes highly interesting to see what light they 
 throw on this contest ; and as those persons, who may 
 take an interest in this inquiry, will of course refer to 
 the Plays, I shall confine myself chiefly to pointing out 
 the various characters. 
 
 The Knight of the Burning Pestle is generally 
 supposed to have been brought upon the stage in 
 1611 ; — it is directed against the absurdities of the 
 earlier drama, more particularly those of Heywood's 
 Four Prentices of London, — written about the close of 
 the preceding century. It is also said to have been 
 " the elder of Don Quixote above a year," meaning, it is 
 assumed, the translation in 1612. Such may be a just 
 interpretation of the dedication to the first edition, 1613, 
 on which however much reliance cannot be placed, as it 
 was not written by either poet, and the publication may 
 have been piratical. 
 
 But, whether acted or not, this comedy, at least the 
 
SHAK3PERE AND JONSON. 11 
 
 first sketch, appears to have been composed in 1604, and 
 singularly too the elder of Don Quixote above a year, the 
 first part of which Cervantes did not publish before 1605 ; 
 this opinion is supported by the following allusions, which 
 in 1611 must have been somewhat out of date : — in the 
 Induction or prologue the Citizen says, — " These seven 
 years there hath been plays at this house, I have observ'd 
 it, you have still girds at citizens;" and the Wife 
 remarks of Ealph, — " Nay, gentlemen, he hath played 
 before, my husband says, Musidorus, before the wardens 
 of our company." This play, Musidorus, was printed in 
 1598; and the Four Prentices of London "was written 
 about the close of the precedingcentury," perhaps in 1597; 
 and old Merrythought's remark, " how have I done these 
 forty years," may refer to Shakspere's birth year. 
 
 Although the Knight of the Burning Pestle appears to 
 have been written in ridicule of the Four Prentices of 
 London and of knight-errantry, it also bears evident 
 marks of being a satirical attack on Jonson as the 
 originator of Eastward Hoe: — Old Merrythought: 
 Lyly ; — Jasper, his son, apprentice to a rich merchant : 
 Shakspere ; — Ralph, knight of the Burning Pestle : Jon- 
 son ; — Humphrey, the merchant's friend : Chapman ; — 
 and Michael, the second son of old Merrythought : 
 Marston. 
 
 Jasper, apparently an idle apprentice, but really an 
 excellent young man, runs away with Luce, the mer- 
 chant's daughter, encounters and conquers Ralph : — 
 
 Jasp. Come, Knight, I'm ready for you, now your pestle 
 
 [snatches away his pestle. 
 Shall try what temper, sir, your mortars of." 
 
78 SHARSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Jasper, pretending to die and being carried to the 
 merchant's house in his coflSn, is evidently borrowed 
 from Antonio and Mellida, and justifies the' supposition, 
 Michael may be intended for Marston; and when the 
 wife says of Jasper : — " He's e'en in the highvvay to the 
 gallows, God bless him;" and again, "Go thy ways, 
 thou art as crooked a sprig as ever grew in London, I 
 warrant him, he'll come to some naughty end brother;" 
 we are reminded of Slit in Eastward Hoe : — " Look, 
 vihat a sort of people cluster about the gallows 
 there ! in good truth it is so. O me ! a fine young 
 gentleman ! What, and taken up at the gallows ! 
 Heaven grant he be not one day taken down there ! A 
 my life it is ominous." — Act iv., sc. 1. 
 
 If the characters of the Merchant, Humphrey, Jasper 
 and Luce were written by Beaumont, and old Merry- 
 thought and Ralph by Fletcher, we need not be sur- 
 prised at Beaumont being painted as Ferdinand in love 
 with Miranda, nor at Fletcher having a niche in the 
 Fox as Corvino. 
 
 The Mad Lover. Memnon, the boasting general and 
 Mad Lover : Jonson ; — Polydor, brother to Memnon : 
 Shakspere; — Chilax, an old merry soldier: Lyly; — 
 Syphax : Marston; — Eumenes, Polybius, and Pelius, 
 three Captains : Beaumont, Fletcher, and Decker. 
 
 Throughout these plays the female characters appear 
 to be allegorical ; the princess Calis, the beautiful, is the 
 romantic muse, with whom Jonson is desperately en- 
 amoured, and also Marston, but Shakspere in this in- 
 stance carries off the prize. Polydor's remedy for 
 Memnon's love reminds us of young Freewill and his 
 
SHAKSFBRE AND JONSON. 79 
 
 unhappy friend Malheureux in the Dutch Courtezan; 
 MemnoUj however, like Malheureux, saves his virtue. 
 Polydor in his bier, like Jasper, is of course borrowed 
 from Antonio and Mellida ; these imitations or borrow- 
 ings from Marston force on us the opinion, that Syphax 
 is intended for Marston, and his marriage with Chloe 
 may be an allusion to the marriage of Lucio in 
 Measure for Measure. As Chilax says, " these twenty- 
 five years I have serv'd my country," and as Euphues 
 was published in 1580, it follows, the Mad Lover may 
 have been produced in 1 605 after the appearance of the 
 Fox, being a burlesque on the quarrel between Shakspere 
 and Jonson. This play is attributed to Fletcher, but 
 I opine, the same hand that drew Jasper and Luce, must 
 have drawn Polydor and Calls. In these two plays the 
 muse of Fletcher is truly a very indelicate Cressida. 
 
 The Woman-hater is another comical satire on the 
 three authors of Eastward Hoe. The Duke of Milan is 
 Shakspere, in love with Oriana, the sister [muse] of 
 Count Valore [Beaumont]. G-ondarino, the woman- 
 hater : Jonson ; Arrigo, a courtier : Lyly ; Lucio, a 
 weak formal statesman : Chapman ; Pandar is of course 
 Marston ; and the mercer. Decker ; Lazarillo, a volup- 
 tuous Smell-feast, is certainly Fletcher, who, like many 
 of his brethren, is as ready to wear motley as to put the 
 foolscap on others j and accordingly Lazarillo tells us 
 his age : 
 
 Bnke. " How old are you ? 
 
 Zaz. And eight and twenty times hath Phoebus' car 
 
 Run out his yearly course since." 
 
 As this comedy was licensed in May, 1607, Fletcher 
 
80 SHAKSFEKE AND JONSON. 
 
 being then in his twenty-eighth year, we cannot doubt 
 of the person intended. In the opening of this comedy 
 the author must have had in his recollection the first 
 scene of the Malcontent, and from the following lines we 
 infer Fletcher must have written a comedy in 1599, 
 praising Shakspere and satiiising Jonson : — 
 
 Fal. " Let me entreat your ^'race to stay a little. 
 To know a gentleman, to wJiora yourself 
 Is much beholding : He hath made the sport 
 For your whole court these eight years, on my 
 knowleda;e." Act ii., sc. 1. 
 
 It has been shown we have reason for believing 
 Fletcher is intended by Femeze in the Malcontent, and 
 it becomes probable, he was afterwards ridiculed as 
 Caqueteur, a prattling gull, in the Dutch Courtezan : — 
 
 Cri. "Sir, I'll no more 'a your service — ^j'oa area child — 
 I'll give you my nurse." 
 
 Act iii., sc. 1. 
 
 Fletcher must have had a great admiration for Mars- 
 ton, and, though no imitator, he has borrowed from him 
 the burlesque sublime ; and there are good grounds for 
 the belief, that in his tragic efforts also he followed 
 toiling in the wake of Marston. 
 
 This comedy, the Woman-hater, acted in 1606, fully 
 justifies and may have been the cause of Fletcher being 
 pointed at in Fleance as the future king of poesy ; a pro- 
 phecy singularly fulfilled, since he was for nearly half a 
 century regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist, 
 even for a time oversbadowing the name of Shakspere. 
 
 Philaster. The King of Sicily and Calabria, an 
 Usurper : Chapman ; Pharamond, Prince of Spain : 
 Jonson; V\a\a.%teT , rightful Heir to the crown: Shaks- 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 81 
 
 pere ; Dion : Lyly ; Cleremont and Thrasiline : Fletcher 
 and Boaumont. 
 
 Throughout the play Philaster has numerous traits 
 of Hamlet, " alas, he's mad j" and scenes are ingeniously 
 devised to throw him into similar positions and passions 
 with Hamlet. Jonson speaks of his almost idolatrous 
 aflfection for Shakspere, but this play is one of the purest 
 pieces of idolatry poet ever offered ; and when Dion, 
 speaking of Philaster's retort to Pharamoud, says, — 
 " H'as given him a general purge already," Beaumont 
 must have had in his recollection the passage in the 
 Return from Parnassus, — " O, that Ben Jonson is a pes- 
 tilent fellow ; — but our fellow Shakspere hath given him 
 a purge that made him bewray his credit." 
 
 This is a beautiful and romantic drama, and needs no 
 allegory ; but there seems to be one in the two ladies ; 
 — Arethusa, a river of Greece, flows under the sea and 
 rises again in Sicily (England) ; that is, the Grecian 
 muse, buried during the middle or dark ages, re-appears 
 in Chapman's translation of the Iliad, wlo is enthroned, 
 as in the Poetaster, king of the English poets, and wishes 
 to transmit his sceptre to the learned Jonson, but he is 
 clearly an usurper. Shakspere is the heir of Dau 
 Chaucer, and by Philaster's marriage with Arethusa is 
 intimated, he was well read in Greek, Homer, and the 
 Tragedians. 
 
 This play is assigned to 1608 or '9 ; and it must have 
 appeared before the Silent Woman, for Jonson with the 
 tact and instinct of malice has transferred Thrasiline 
 and Cleremont bodily into that comedy under the names 
 of Sir Dauphine Eugenie and Cleremont ; and Dauphin e 
 
82 SHAKSPEllE AND .UfSSOS. 
 
 may he a reminiscence of the King of France in Lear. 
 But that is not all ; for Epicoene or the Silent Woman is 
 a boy, a trick of Sir Dauphine's, and the whole comedy 
 is a satire or parody on Philaster; the eclaircissement 
 at the end being the denouement of each play. 
 
 The Custom of the Country. For the ingenious piece 
 of malice in representing them as sneering at their 
 friends, Shakspere and Inigo Jones, as Sir John Daw 
 and La Foole, our two poets repaid Jonson by painting 
 him in this comedy as Duarte, a gentleman well qualified 
 
 hut vain-glorious : — 
 
 " an excellent scholar and he knows it ; 
 An exact courtier, and he knows lliat too ; 
 He has fought thrice, and come off still with honour. 
 Which he forgets not." 
 
 Act ii. sc. 1. 
 
 No one can mistake the picture, a striking likeness, 
 and the date in the corner, Christmas, 1609, as Rutilio 
 (Fletcher) says, " I have lived this thirty years." Jon- 
 son is also satirised as the villainous-looking bravo, who 
 had committed three murders, and would rather kill a 
 man than maim him, as dead men tell no tales, Leo- 
 pold, a sea-captain, in love with Hippolyta : Marston ; — 
 Arnoldo : Shakspere ; Charino, father of Zenocia : Lyly ; 
 Alonzo: Beaumont. Having thus given the retort 
 courteous to Jonson our poets proceeded in a less satir- 
 ical mood to — 
 
 The Maid's Tragedy. As Amintor, a noble gentleman, 
 is a similar character to Prince Philaster, this play must 
 also be regarded as another tribute of respect to Shaks- 
 pere. King of Rhodes : Marston ; Jonson : Melautius, 
 who talks largely but not such a boaster as INTemnon ; 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 83 
 
 Amintor thus speaks of him, reminding us of Fuller's 
 account of the wit combats at the Mermaid : — 
 
 uimin. " What vile wrong 
 
 Has stirred my worthy friend, who is as slow 
 To fight with words, as he is quick of hand ?" 
 
 Act i., so. 1. 
 
 CalianaXj an old humourous lord, and father to 
 Aspatia : Lyly ; Cleon and Strato : Beaumont and 
 Fletcher. 
 
 We may judge from the following imita;tions in the 
 Winter's Tale, how highly Shakspere admired this 
 tragedy, and how deeply he was affected by the delicate 
 flattery therein, — an offering far more grateful and 
 sweet-smelling than the idle puff of commendatory 
 verses : — 
 
 L^s. " when she sees a bank 
 
 Stuck full of flowers, she with a sigh will tell 
 Her servants what a pretty place it were 
 To bury lovers in ; and make her maids 
 Pluck 'em, and strew her over like a corse." 
 
 TJie Maid's Tragedy, Act i., sc. 1. 
 
 Per. " O, these I lack, 
 
 To make you garlands of; and my sweet friend, 
 To strew him o'er and o'er. 
 
 Flo. What, like a corse ? 
 
 Per. No, like a bank, for love to lie and play on ; 
 Not like a corse." 
 
 Winter's Tale, Act iv., sc. 3. 
 
 There is also a similar passage in Philaster, Act iv., 
 sc. 4. 
 
 Melantius thus addresses Calianax : — 
 
 Mel. I shall forget this place, thy age, my safety. 
 
84 shakspere and jonso.v. 
 
 And through all, cut that poor sickly week, 
 Thou hast to live, away from thee." 
 
 Tlie Maid's Tragedy, Acti., so. 1. 
 Pol. " Tliou old traitor, 
 
 I aiu sorry, that, by hanging thee, I can but 
 Shorten thy life one week." 
 
 JFinter's Tale, Act iv., sc. 3 
 
 The allegorical character of the two ladies iu this 
 tragedy is very distinctly marked ; for the one is named 
 after Evadne, who slighted the addresses of Apollo ; and 
 the other, not after the celebrated Aspatia of Athens, 
 but the mistress of Cyrus, priestess of the sun, famous 
 for her personal charms, elegance, and beauty of com- 
 plexion. Euphrasia in PhiLaster is said to be an imita- 
 tion of Viola, but Aspatia is Viola herself, — " patience 
 on a monument smiling at grief:" — "strive to make me 
 look like sorrow's monument;" and when Aspatia, dressed 
 in her brother's clothes says, " 'tis twelve years siuce I 
 saw my sister," 'tis an allusion to l\oelfth Night, which 
 was composed in the autumn of 1598. 
 
 About the time this tragedy was produced, Jonson 
 brought out the Alchemist, in which he takes his revenge 
 for the satire in the Custom of the Country by ridiculing 
 Fletcher as Drugger, a Tobacco-man, and Beaumont as 
 KastriU the angry boy. Our poets replied in 
 
 The Humourous Lieutenant. In this comedy Jonson 
 is caricatured as the Lieutenant, and satirised as King 
 Autigonus, an old man with young desires. Prince 
 Demetrius, his son, in love with Celia : Shakspere. Two 
 Gentlemen, friends and followers of Demetrius .- Beau- 
 mont and Fletcher, Seleucus is probably Chapman, and 
 Lysimachus and Ptolemy may be Marston and Decker. 
 
SHAKSPEKE AND JONSON. 85 
 
 — Leontius, a merry old soldier: Lyly. As Leontius 
 says, " I have not wept this thirty years and upwards," 
 the play may have been written in the autumn of 1610. 
 
 The Lieutenant having a regiment of children whom 
 he'll " unbeget and knock 'em on the head if disobe- 
 dient," may be an allusion to Jonson's sons. His won- 
 derful love and admiration for the king after drinking 
 the potion is not only a satire on Jonson's servile adula- 
 tion of King James, but also on his excessive vanity, 
 reminding us of Sir Andrew laughing at Malvolio's vain 
 and aflfected airs in Tkuelfth Night. 
 
 Although this play is universally given to Fletcher, 
 and, no doubt, the characters of Leontius and the 
 H umourous Lieutenant were by him, yet, I suspect, the 
 scenes more immediately connected with Celia were 
 written by Beaumont. Not only may we be sure, he 
 would repay Jonson for the angry boy in the Alchemist, 
 but this play readily divides into two parts only slightly 
 held together by one or two scenes. 
 
 In 1611 Jonson brought out Catiline; but as the 
 tragedy is so purely classical, containing no personal 
 satire except inferentially, our poets complimented Jon- 
 soa thereon in commendatory verses ; Beaumont's how- 
 ever have evidently a satirical smack. They may then 
 have spent eight days in refiling and polishing The 
 Knight of the burning Pestle, which, however, bears a 
 very juvenile look by the side of the Humourous Lieute- 
 nant, between it and the noble play they next pro- 
 ceeded to, or — 
 
 King and No King ; in which, however, the second 
 scene in the second act may have been suggested by the 
 
86 SHAKSPEEE AND JONSON. 
 
 earlier comedy, Philip being a second edition of E,alph. 
 Arbaces (Jonson) is a mighty conqueror and braggart, 
 takes Tigranes (Shakspere) prisoner iu single combat; 
 but treats him kindly, promising him his only sister in 
 marriage and says of him : — 
 
 " This prince, Mardonius, 
 Is full of wisdom, valour, all tlie graces 
 Man can receive. 
 Mar. And yet you conquer'd him." 
 
 Evidently the character is a comical satire. This 
 speech and the remark of Mardonius remind us of 
 Pharamond and Thrasiline in the opening of Philaster. 
 
 The single combat, the dubiousness of Arbaces' birth, 
 and his mother attempting to poison him, are well-knoTra 
 allusions to Jonson. Panthea, the supposed sister of 
 Arbaces, with whom he falls desperately in love and after- 
 wards marries, is intended, as her name, aZ/-rfi?;iwe, denotes, 
 for the classical musej whilst Spaconia, beloved by 
 Tigranes, is the romantic muse. Gobrias : Chapman ; 
 Lygones, father of Spaconia : Lyly ; Bacurius : Inigo 
 Jones ; Mardonius : Beaumont ; whilst Fletcher amuses 
 himself by acting the part of Bessus, the lying coward, 
 and then by a date fixes the caricature on Jonson, — 
 " but in a cudgell'd body, from eighteen to eight-and 
 thirty;" — this play having been licensed in 1611, thirty- 
 eight years will carry us back to 1573, in which year 
 Jonson was born; and possibly he went to the Low 
 Countries in 1591; and Bessus says, "I think I have 
 been cudgell'd with all nations and almost all religions." 
 Bacurius degrading Bessus by taking his sword from 
 him may be an allusion to Inigo Jones, who was pro- 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 87 
 
 bably the means of getting Jonson dismissed from the 
 service of Prince Henry ; and Lygones beating Bessus, 
 twinging his nose and kicking him, may be a retaliation 
 for the twinges by the nose and the kicks sans nombre 
 given to Sir John Daw and La Foole. 
 
 The following dates appear to have a peculiar signifi- 
 cancy ; — " She (Panthea) but nine years old I left her, 
 and ne'er saw her since," says Arbaces; and Gobrias 
 tells him, " you grew up as the king's son, till you were 
 six years old; then did the king die, and — left this 
 queen truly with child, indeed of the fair princess, Pan- 
 thea." In these dates Beaumont appears to be paying 
 a high compliment to Fletcher's muse, as well as to 
 Jonson ; we may presume, Panthea is in her sixteenth 
 year, born in 1596 and last seen by Arbaces in 1605, 
 complimentary allusions to Every Man in His Humour, 
 and to the Fox; so far Panthea is the supposed sister 
 or Jonson's own muse. But Fletcher was six years 
 younger than Jonson, consequently Arbaces' admiration 
 of Panthea would be a pleasing allusion to Jonson's 
 commendatory verses on the Faithful Shepherdess, the 
 rightful princess and Queen of " Iberia." 
 
 Notwithstanding the acknowledged diflSculty of de- 
 ciding what scenes or passages may have been written 
 by either poet, yet there seem good grounds for attri- 
 buting particular scenes to Beaumont. Thus the dis- 
 course between Arbaces and Mardonius in the first act 
 reminds us of the friendship between Beaumont and 
 Jonson ; again from Enter Arbaces, ^c. to Exeunt 
 Kings, Act ii., sc. 2, must also be by him, since the passage 
 closely resembles the end of Pfnlaster ; whilst the con- 
 
88 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 test in the mind of Arbaces on account of his love for 
 Panthea is just the mental analysis Beaumont delights 
 in ; consequently we have no hesitation in attributing 
 to him the characters of Arbaces, Tigranes, Mardouius, 
 Panthea, and Spaconia ; and to Fletcher the scenes in 
 which Bessus is a principal character, — Mardonius would 
 be common to both poets. 
 
 We cannot doubt, that Beaumont wrote Arbaces and 
 Tigranes, since in the Triumph of Honour in Four Plays 
 in One, universally ascribed to Beaumont, Martins and 
 Sophocles are similar characters; and this Triumph 
 must have been written soon after the Winter's Tale, 
 since Sophocles (Shakspere) says, " Seven times have I 
 met thee face to iace ;" —Every man in and out of his 
 Humour, Cynthia's Revels, the Poetaster, the Fox, the 
 Silent Woman, and the Alchemist ; — Sejanus was a con- 
 joint production. 
 
 The Scornful Lady may have followed King and No 
 King, and we presume from various passages, the same 
 hand that drew the Lady, also painted Celia in the 
 Humourous Lieutenant. Of the plays written in 1612- 
 13 we shall at present only notice — 
 
 The Knight of Malta. — After looking through this 
 play the reader would immediately pronounce Miranda, 
 the Knight of Malta and pure soldier of the cross, to be 
 Shakspere ; Gomera, a deserving Spanish gentleman : 
 Jonson ; and Mountferrat, a Knight of the Order, but 
 a villain : Marston ; Valetta, the Grand Master : Chap- 
 man; Colonna alias Angelo : Decker; Norandine, a 
 valiant and merry Dane : Lyly ; Astorius and Castriot, 
 two Knights of the Order : Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 89 
 
 This explanation rests on the following items; — the 
 remark of Miranda, " Boy, did he call me ? Gomera 
 call me boy ?" links Gomera and Miranda with Aufidius 
 and Coriolanus. The character of Gomera is a copy of 
 the jealous Leontes ; in fact Gomera and Oriana may be 
 regarded as an imitation of Leontes and Hermione in 
 the Winter's Tale. 
 
 This drama appears to have been produced in the 
 autumn of 1 612, since Lucinda is " a virgin of fourteen," 
 which connects her with Viola in Twelfth Night, whilst 
 Gomera and Miranda having served "full ten years," 
 that is, made war against the Turks, may be an allusion 
 to Othello. Again in the opening of the play, Mount- 
 ferrat says, " full sixteen years " fortune and victory have 
 been his servitors; this led me at first to suppose the 
 character was a satire on Jonson, but the unmistakable 
 imitation of Marston's style shows the poef s mean- 
 ing:— 
 
 " The wages of scom'd love is baneful hate ;" 
 whilst Zanthia, Oriana's maid, is the same treacherous 
 creature as Zanthia in Sophonisba; and Oriana, like 
 Sophonisba, is also described as the wonder of women. 
 
 Consequently Marston must have produced some 
 remarkable work in 1596; and it would seem, his 
 satires were written in that year though not published 
 till 1598 ; for it turns out, the Knight of Malta is 
 founded on, or is a reply to the Insatiate Countess ; in 
 which tragi-comedy Marston and Jonson appear as 
 Signior Claridiano and Signior Rogero, with their wives 
 (muses), Abigail and Thais, "fourteen years called 
 sisters;" and it follows, the play was produced in 1610. 
 
90 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Isabelkj the tragic muse, marries Count Roberto 
 (Shakspere) ; and at a masque on the bridal-night she 
 falls in love with Count Guido (Beaumont) , and runs 
 away with him the next morning ; soon after she trans- 
 fers her affections to his friend Count Grniaca (Fletcher). 
 Roberto, shocked at the depravity of his wife, retires to 
 a monastery, and is a similar character with Miranda, 
 the Knight of Malta ; whilst Mendosa and Lady Len- 
 tUus are the prototypes of Angelo and Lucinda; Duke 
 Amago : Chapman* Read by this light the Insatiate 
 Countess is suflB.ciently amusing, half satirical and half 
 complimentary to Beaumont and Fletcher on the suc- 
 cess of Philaster and the Maid's Tragedy. Guido 
 satirising Isabella as the insatiate countess may be 
 allegorical of Beaumont's devotion to the tragic muse at 
 that period. The following points are also noteworthy; 
 Abigail says, her husband has written "an ungodly 
 volume of satires against women, and calls his book the 
 Snarle." — The remark of Thais, " I should have my 
 husband pliant to me," may be an allusion to Dame 
 Pliant in the Alchemist, to this particular expression : — 
 
 Sub. " Pray God, your sister prove but pliant." — 
 
 The Alchemist, Act iv., scene 2. 
 
 Thais also calls her husband "the Knight of the 
 supposed Home." Gniaca says, "women-haters now 
 are common j" and "less the cities powers rise to 
 rescue him " may indicate, that Webster is shadowed in 
 Colonel Sago. That some definite meaning is attached 
 
 * In Marston's Works the Insatiate Countess is unfortunately a 
 mere reprint of an old edition ; and amongst other errors the name of 
 Rogero is repeatedly misprinted for Guido, making a sad confusion. 
 
SHAKSPEKE AND JONSON. 91 
 
 to these several phrases we may surmise from the 
 remark of RogerOj " Why now I see thou lovest me," 
 which is a quotation from Chapman's Bussy D'Ambois, 
 where Monsieur, after the friendly contest of personal 
 abuse, says to Bussy, "Why now I see thou lovest me." 
 
 The Knight of Malta is generally attributed to 
 Fletcher, and he appears to have written the scenes, in 
 which Mountferrat, Zanthia, and Norandine are the 
 principal characters ; but all the scenes connected with 
 Miranda I should give to Beaumont. 
 
 The Two Noble Kinsmen. — This play is supposed to 
 have been written by Shakspere and Fletcher, but the 
 only external evidence is the title of the first edition, 
 1634, and "a tradition of the playhouse, that the first 
 act only was wrote by Shakspere." The play readily 
 divides into two parts, very slightly connected together. 
 Theseus, Hippolyta, and Emilia, are by the hand of 
 Beaumont ; — the underplot by Fletcher. 
 
 Arcite is Shakspere ; and Palamon, Jonson ; their 
 characters are very distinctly drawn, the noble and 
 conciliatory spirit of the one as opposed to the tetchi- 
 ness and irritable jealousy of the other. The knight 
 described on the side of Arcite must be Sir Walter 
 Ralegh, or the Moor, " his complexion nearer a brown 
 than black;" the first on the side of Palamon is Carr, 
 Earl of Somerset, who was in his twenty-fifth year in 
 1614; the other knight set. 36, may be Sir Thomas 
 Coventry, who was bom in 1578; their characters 
 correspond with the descriptions of the poet, but I can 
 find no account of Sir Thomas' personal appearance ; he 
 was " Counsel for the Crown in the trial of the Somer- 
 
12 SHAKSPEKE AND JONSON. 
 
 lets, — but either from his own inclination, or the 
 jealousy of the King's Serjeant and the Attorney 
 General, he did not act a conspicuous part in any of 
 them." — Lives of the Chancellors, Vol. ii., p. 513. 
 
 In Theseus and Hippolyta are shadowed Chapman 
 and his Homeric muse, and Creon, " a most unbounded 
 tyrant," uncle to the princes, is the terrible Marston. 
 Emilia is the goddess of poetry ; Palamon wins her by 
 the death of Arcite, — that is, Shakspere having retired 
 from the service of the muses, Jonson remains first poet 
 of the age. The Jailor's Daughter, in love with Pala- 
 mon, being eighteen, fixes the date of the drama, 1614. 
 
 Beaumont wrote the first act ; the sixth scene of the 
 third act, from ' Enter Theseus' &c. ; the second scene 
 in the fourth act ; the first, second third, and fifth 
 scenes, and from ' Enter Pirithous' in the sixth scene 
 of the fifth act. Thus the scenes, essentially classical 
 and forming a perfect poem, not a word in excess nor a 
 word wanting, appear to have been written by Beau- 
 mont, and thus this beautiful Anglo-Greek drama, 
 Theseus and Hippolyta, nearly the last production of his 
 genius, remains a monument to his own glory, and a 
 mausoleum for the manes of Shakspere and Jonson. 
 The description of the battle, instead of the battle itself 
 on the stage, being a direct imitation of the Greek 
 tragedy, and the language throughout so thoroughly 
 Shaksperian, confirms the allegory in the Winter's 
 Tale, where Beaumont is represented as the son of 
 Shakspere, married to the Grecian muse. By the early 
 death of Beaumont we lost an English Sophocles, whose 
 .^schylus was glorious John Marston, he ! that fronted 
 Shakspere, as Ajax " cop'd Hector." 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 93 
 
 There now comes a change over the scene ; this play, 
 the Two Noble Kinsmen, so flattering to Jonson, mnst 
 have been written in the spring of 1614, and with equal 
 certainty we can say, RoUo, the Bloody Brother, was 
 written in the autumn of the same year ; and we have 
 no hesitation in attributing to Fletcher the impassioned 
 scenes between Hollo and Edith, whilst Beaumont drew 
 the character of the good Aubrey [Chapman], whose 
 age, " about fifty-seven," gives the date of the tragedy ; 
 and whilst Shakspere is shadowed in the gentle Otto, 
 Marston is satirised as the Bloody Brother, and Jonson 
 as Latorch, ' Rollo's earwig.' 
 
 This tragedy appears to have been followed by The 
 False One, in which Jonson is satirised as the villain 
 Septimius ; Shakspere is pointed at in Pompey, whilst 
 Marston would be Caesar, and Chapman, Achoreus; 
 Antony, and Dolabella, Caesar's Captains .- Pletcher and 
 Decker ; Ptolemy : Beaumont ; and by a singular co- 
 incidence, this is the only play in which his represent- 
 ative character dies. In this play the first act appears 
 to have been written by Beaumont, all the rest by 
 Fletcher, probably in consequence of the death of 
 Beaumont. The play is named the The False One, not 
 after Cleopatra, but after Septimius : — 
 
 Sepi. " Since I in my nature 
 
 Was fashioned to be false." 
 ^nt. " There's no doubt then 
 
 Thou wilt be false."— 
 
 Act v., scene 3. 
 
 Nor is it improbable, Carr, Earl of Somerset, is 
 shadowed in Photinus, for the following lines remind us 
 
94 SHAK.SPE11E AND JONSON. 
 
 of Jonson's congratulatory epistle to the Earl on his 
 marriage in 1613 : — 
 
 Sept. " You are my god on earth ! and let me have 
 Your favour here, fall what can fall hereafter. 
 
 Pko. Thou art believed ; dost thou want money ? 
 
 Sept. No, sir. 
 
 Pho. Or hast thou any suit ? These ever follow 
 Thy vehement protestations. 
 
 Sept. You much Avrong me : 
 
 How can I want when your beams shine upon me. 
 Unless employment to express my zeal 
 To do your greatness service." — 
 
 Tlie False One, Act i., scene !. 
 " Tliey are not those, are present with their face. 
 And clothes and gifts, that only do thee grace 
 At these thy nuptials ; but whose heart and thought 
 Do wait upon thee ; and their love not bought."— 
 
 Jonson to Carr. 
 
 The severity of the satire in these two tragedies, un- 
 mitigated as in other plays by a complimentary character, 
 justifies the supposition, there must have arisen a quarrel 
 between Beaumont and Jonson, and the cause may have 
 been Bartholomew Fair ; wherein we find two friendsj 
 Winwife and Quarlous, contending for the love of Grace 
 Welborn, who has the same difficulty^ as Emilia, in 
 choosing between her two admirers, and in the pocket- 
 book Quarlous writes Argalus, and Winwife, Palemon ; 
 we cannot then doubt that in this scene Jonson had in 
 his recollection the Two Noble Kinsmen; Winwife 
 (Beaumont) wins the lady, whilst Quarlous (Fletcher) 
 marries Dame Purecraft for her money, because "it is 
 money that I want." 
 
 To what extent the quarrel may have proceeded. 
 
SHAKSPEKE AND JONSON. 95 
 
 whether beyond a mere dramatic contest^ Beaumont and 
 Fletcher taking up the cudgels for Shakspere, we cannot 
 . pretend to decide, but it is certain, notwithstanding the 
 intimacy and friendship between Beaumont and Jonson, 
 and the appearance of the Two Noble Kinsmen in 1614, 
 Jonson wrote no elegy on the death of his friend in 
 1616, but brings out, whether before or after the death 
 of Shakspere may be dubious, the Devil is an Ass ; in 
 which comedy Beaumont and Fletcher are represented 
 as Wittipol and Trains. "Wittipol reminds us of Sir 
 Dauphine in the Silent Woman, and is so named after 
 Wittipate in Wit at several Weapons, and Pug is pro- 
 bably borrowed from Antonio in the Coxcomb : — 
 
 Wit. " How now ! what play have we here ? 
 
 Man. What fine new matters ? 
 
 Wit. The coxcomb and the coverlet." 
 
 Act v., sc. 5. 
 
 And when Manly says, " I should know this voice and 
 face too," we are reminded of Viola in the Coxcomb, 
 " I know that voice and face," and also of Maria, " Ha ! 
 I should know that jewel ; 'tis my husband." 
 
 We need not then be surprised at the wrath of Beau- 
 mont and Fletcher on seeing their humourous and kindly 
 effusions transformed into illnatured satire, and them- 
 selves into sneerers at their best and dearest friend, the 
 man they idolized. After the death of Beaumont, 
 Fletcher carried on the war against Jonson with un- 
 dimished vigour, lampooning him as " a malicious Beau- 
 tefeau," in the Queen of Corinth, 1616, where the 
 characters of Theanor and Crates remind us of Photinus 
 and Septimius ; and the expression, " On, my Engine, 
 on," must be an allusion to the Devil is an Ass. 
 
96 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 In these plays and in all where his hand is traceable, 
 the muse of Beaumont is most chaste, decorous, and 
 moral, whilst Fletcher, though he often delights us as 
 Cupid, not seldom offends as a satyr. Nor can it be 
 doubted, many of the female characters are allegorical ; 
 this is most apparent in the selection of the names of 
 Arethusa and Evadne, and especially in the character of 
 Emilia in the Two Noble Kinsmen ; but notwithstanding 
 this allegorical nature there is a richness and fullness in 
 their characterization we in vain seek for in later 
 dramatists ; the same fullness of life appears also in the 
 comedies of Marston and others at that period ; and as 
 Philip in Northward Ho says, his father regarded the 
 nine Muses as so many beautiful women, it must be 
 acknowledged, in the days of Elizabeth and James the 
 English muse was a buxom lass, healthy and vigorous, 
 the child of nature, native to the soil ; — but the cold, 
 classical, and Frenchified poets* of great Anna and the 
 eighteenth century stript the goddess of her flesh and 
 blood, and sent the delighted spirit to wander about the 
 earth like a Werther wailing ; — since then, 'tis said, she 
 had been seen in America and in England had on the 
 helmet of Arthur j but, be that as it may, 'tis certain, 
 she loves Garibaldi and dwells in the hearts of the 
 British volunteers, guarding the throne of Victoria, — 
 that is her home. 
 
 As Webster not only added some scenes to the Mal- 
 content, but also joined Decker in writing Northward 
 Ho, and Westward Ho, let us now examine — 
 
 • This is very evident in Congreve's Double Dealer, vphich, though 
 brilliHnt and sparkling as champagne, is a most watery dilution, Hali- 
 neman's thirtieth attenuation, of Cynthia't SeveU ai.d Othello. 
 
SHAKSPEKE AND JONSON. 97 
 
 The Duchess of Malfi. After reading this tragedy we 
 cannot doubt, Bosola is intended for Jonson ; and yet 
 beyond the character so graphically drawn as if by 
 Shakspere's own hand, there is not a trace, not the 
 slightest evidence justifying such a suspicion; — nor is 
 there any more cause for supposing that the good and 
 noble Antonio, steward to the Duchess and privately 
 married to her, is Shakspere, a character applicable to 
 him only as farmer and manager, and yet one closes the 
 book with the conviction, Antonio and Bosola are 
 Shakspere and Jonson. 
 
 "Webster wrote two tragedies about the same period, 
 and they appear to be connected together in the author's 
 mind ; for the heroine of the one is a bad woman, the 
 White Devil ; whilst the Duchess of Malfi is an angel of 
 purity. Now in the preface to the first play, Vittoria 
 Corombona, or the White Devil, the following pas- 
 sage precludes the supposition the author intended 
 any personality in the play against either Shakspere or 
 Jonson ; and yet they are perhaps even more appositely 
 represented by the two brothers, Marcello and Flamineo, 
 than by Antonio and Bosola in the other play : — 
 
 "Detraction is the sworn friend to ignorance; for 
 mine own part, I have ever truly cherished my good 
 opinion of other men's worthy labours ; especially of that 
 full and heightened style of Master Chapman; the 
 laboured and understanding works of Master Jonson ; 
 the no less worthy composures of the both worthily 
 excellent Master Beaumont and Master Fletcher ; and 
 lastly [without wrong last to be named], the right happy 
 and copious industry of Master Shakspere, Master 
 
98 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Deckerj and Master Heywood ; wishing what I write 
 may be read by their light; protesting that, in the 
 strength of mine own judgment, I know them so worthy^ 
 and though I rest silent in my own work, yet to most 
 of theirs I dare [without flattery] fix that of Martial, — 
 " Non norunt hcEC monumenta mori." 
 Under such circumstances it becomes highly impro- 
 bable, that any personal allusion could have been 
 intended in the Duchess of Malfi. But on looking into 
 the White Devil to our astonishment we discover, that 
 the seven leading personages in the tragedy correspond 
 exactly with the characters of the seven poets mentioned 
 in the preface ; and that the passage just quoted is far 
 more a clue than a blind to the author's meaning, 
 " wishing what I write may be read by their light." 
 Monticelso : Chapman ; the two Dukes, Francisco and 
 Brachiano : Beaumont and Fletcher ; the two brothers, 
 Flamineo and Marcello : Jonson and Shakspere ; Lodo- 
 vico and Camillo will then be Decker and Heywood. 
 Beaumont is admirably drawn as Francisco, the great 
 plotter, and the following lines may be a satire on his fre- 
 quent use of thunder in Fhilaster : — 
 
 Fran. " Look to 't, for our anger 
 
 Is making thunderbolts. 
 Brack. Thunder ! in faith, 
 
 They are but crackers." 
 
 The quarrel between Brachiano and Isabella is evi- 
 dentlyan imitation of the eclaircissement between Evadne 
 and Amintor. But how comes it, that Marston's name is 
 omitted in the preface, for on the second page there is 
 a quotation from the Parasitaster, and Zanche, the 
 
SHAKSPEllE AND JONSON. 99 
 
 Moorish chamberrnaid, is the same as Zanthia iu Sophon- 
 isba. This singular omissioii leads to the supposition, 
 that Vittoria, the sister of Flamineo and Marcello 
 [Jonson and Shakspere], must be Marston's fierce and 
 lustful muse ; whilst in Brachiano's passionate love for 
 this White Devil is painted Fletcher's admiration of 
 Marston's genius.* 
 
 But behind these dramatists there appears to be some 
 historical figures ; — in Brachiano and Vittoria are fore- 
 shadowed the loves and marriage of the Countess of 
 Essex and Carr, afterwards Earl of Somerset. The 
 arraignment of Vittoria is a most open imitation of the 
 trial of Sir Walter Ralegh, and when Francisco saj's, 
 " the act of blood let pass ; only descend to the matter 
 of incontinence," we are reminded of the Main and the 
 Bye ; consequently Francisco, disguised as a Moor, 
 must stand for Sir Walter ; and this disguise confirms 
 the supposition, Shakspere in Othello had an eye to 
 Ralegh . 
 
 * This poetical enthronement of Marston's muse justifies the opinion 
 that in the Insatiate Countess Webster is represented in the character 
 of Colonel Sago, the best beloved of Isabella the tragic muse. This 
 must be a complimentary allusion to some previous tragedy, probably 
 to Appius and Virginia, where Mareton appears to be shadowed in 
 Appius Claudius, ' a huge rascal' in the play, but aUegorically a com- 
 plimentary character, since Marston is here again contending with 
 Shakspere (Icilius) for Virginia, the classical mueej but Jonson is 
 represented in Marcus Claudius, a base wretch, that can neither poetically 
 nor aUegorically be twisted into a respectable character. Chapman 
 would be the noble Eoman, Virginius, and hence the date: — As Virginia 
 is fourteen, born after her father Imd been married fifteen years, and as 
 the supposed child of Marcus' bondwoman would be Even/ Man in hit 
 Sumour, it follows, this tragedy was brought out in 1610 : and further 
 that Chapman produced his first play in 1596, after having been married 
 to the muses fifteen years ; — his first comedy was published in 1598. 
 
100 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 The following lines clearly point at Othello and the 
 expeditions against Cadiz and the Azores in 1596 and '7. 
 Flam. " 1 have not seen a goodlier personage. 
 
 Nor ever talk'd with men better experienc'd 
 In state affairs or rudiments of war : 
 He hath, by report, serv'd the Venetian 
 In Candy these twice-seven years, and been chief 
 In many a bold design." 
 G-iovanni is CTidently a portrait of Prince Henry. 
 We may now return to the Duchess of Malfi ; the 
 following extract clearly marks Bosola as Jonson ; he 
 continually protests his honesty, and is only a villain 
 through circumstances ; he dies however repentant : — 
 Ant. " Here comes Bosola,* 
 
 The only court-gall ; yet I observe his railing 
 Is not for simple love of piety : 
 Indeed, he rails at those things which he wants ; 
 Would be as lecherous, covetous, or proud. 
 Bloody, or envious, as any man. 
 If he had means to be so." 
 
 Act i., sc. I. 
 
 But far diflferently does Webster speak of Antonio 
 [Shakspere], describing him as " a complete man,^^ and 
 applying to him the closing lines of the play, that 
 " Integrity of life is fame's best friend." 
 
 On a more minute examination these two tragedies 
 prove, Webster was an ardent student of the Shaks- 
 perian drama ; that he loved the man and worshipped 
 his muse. In that most poetical scene in the White 
 Devil, where Cornelia and her ladies are "discovered 
 winding the corse of Marcello," the scene opens with 
 
 * Webster had probably in his mind the lines of Timon to Apemantus, 
 and of Isabella against Angelo in Measure for Measure. 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 101 
 
 an imitation of Ophelia's distraction and also of Lady 
 Macbeth's sleeping soliloquy, followed by a dirge, of 
 which C. Lamb says, " I never saw anything like this 
 dirge except the ditty which reminds Ferdinand of his 
 drowned father in the Tempest. As that is of the water, 
 watery ; so this is of the earth, earthy. Both have that 
 intenseness of feeling, which seems to resolve itself into 
 the elements which it contemplates." 
 
 These and other recollections or borrowings from 
 Shakspere are not to be regarded as denoting a poverty 
 of fancy; — ^far from itj they are the delicate flatteries 
 which, instead of commendatory verses, "the right 
 happy and copious industry " of Master Webster and 
 Beaumont, &c. offered to the princely autocrat of the 
 stage ; and when in Cymbeline, in imitation of the dirge 
 over the body of Marcello, a song is sung at the grave 
 of Fidele, 'tis not a stolen idea, a poverty of invention, 
 but a graceful recognition of Webster's devotional 
 offering; for was not Marcello, Shakspere? Tu Mar- 
 cellus eris. 
 
 If then Webster had this holy reverence for the genius 
 of Shakspere, can it be doubted, that in the Duchess of 
 Malfi are allegorized the sufferings of the Shaksperian 
 muse from the persecutions of Jonson ; and assuredUy 
 had Shakspere cramped his genius to the critical dimen- 
 sions of Ben, it would have been as effectually throttled, 
 as was the Duchess by Bosola. From the remark of 
 Ferdinand we may infer, Beaumont was born the very 
 day Pericles was first acted :— ^ 
 
 Ferd. " She and I were twins ; 
 
 And should I die this instant, I had liv'd 
 
102 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Her time to a minute." 
 
 Buchess of Malfi, Act iv., sc. 2. 
 
 Whilst the Duchess may be regarded as the tragic 
 muse, Julia is the comic muse, married to Castruccio 
 (Hey wood), beloved by Delio [Decker], and now 
 bestowing her smiles on the Cardinal (Fletcher). 
 
 There appears to be a bit of secret history in these 
 two plays, having reference to a particular period of 
 Jonson's life , — on the death of Brachiano the young 
 duke Giovanni [Prince Henry] immediately orders 
 Mamineo " to forbear the presence and all rooms that 
 owe him revei-ence ;" and Plamineo remarks, " he hath 
 his uncle's (the Moor's) villainous look already." Jon- 
 son fell into disgrace at court {vide Winter's Tale) , about 
 Christmas, 1610, at latest, and remained so till after the 
 death of Prince Henry and the marriage of the Princess 
 Elizabeth. He also had at one period a quarrel with 
 Sir Walter, and kindly told Drummond, that " Ralegh 
 esteemed more fame than conscience ; the best wits of 
 England were employed in making his History of the 
 World." 
 
 From this intimate connection between these plays it 
 may be conjectured, the Duchess of Malfi was com- 
 posed about Christmas, 1613; and it becomes highly 
 probable, the prologue to Every Man in his Humour was 
 re-written by Jonson for the sake of venting his spite 
 upon this play and the Tempest. 
 
 The story, that there had been a quarrel between 
 Chapman and Jonson about this period, appears to be con- 
 firmed by a passage in Act iii., sc. 3, where Delio says, 
 the great Count Malatesti " hath read all the late ser- 
 
SHAKSPEBE AND JONSON. 103 
 
 vice, as the City Chronicle relates it." Chapman was 
 joined with Inigo Jones in producing the masque at the 
 marriage of the Princess Elizabeth, to which the above 
 extract may refer. The Marquis of Pescara is Marston ; 
 Delio is Decker; and Castruccio, Hey wood ;. Duke 
 Ferdinand and his brother, the Cardinal, are Beaumont 
 and Fletcher. We gather from their plays, that Beau- 
 mont and Fletcher, being of a cheerful and sanguine 
 temperament, rather enjoyed the fight between Shaks- 
 pere and Jonsonj and being also free from jealousy, 
 idolizing the one, and respecting the powerful intellect 
 of the other, they joined in the melee with a joyous 
 heartiness void of malice and offence ; but Webster, being 
 of a graver and more serious disposition, disapproved of 
 these follies, and regarded it as a desecration to approach 
 Shakspere otherwise than with love and reverence. 
 
 Perhaps one of the most ingenious methods of tor- 
 menting the Duchess of Malfi was letting loose a set of 
 madmen in her chamber j another remarkable scene is 
 the madness of Duke Ferdinand ; and it has been shown 
 Webster had great reverence for Shakspere; — now on 
 looking into Bartholomew Fair we find a lunatic, 
 Trouble-all, who has a prodigious reverence for Justice 
 Overdo ; but such a harmless joke would be poor re- 
 venge on the part of Jonson, so Webster is also satirised 
 as Zeal-of-the-land Busy, suitor to Dame Purecraft. — 
 Squire Cokes is another character in this comedy, under 
 which Shakspere is ridiculed; and Cokes is carefully 
 watched and attended upon by Humphrey Waspe,* 
 a humourous caricature of Chapman, who seems to have 
 
 * A reminiscence of £ent in Lear, who was also put into the stocks. 
 
104 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 been a warm tempered old gentleman, and through life 
 almost as warmly attached to Shakspere as Lyly was. 
 
 On turning back to the Alchemist, in which both 
 Beaumont and Fletcher are ridiculed, we find two 
 characters similar to Waspe and Zeal-of-the-land 
 Busy; it may then be surmised. Chapman and Web- 
 ster are therein satirised as Pertinax Surly and 
 Tribulation Wholesome ; whilst Ananias, a Deacon, may 
 be intended for Decker, who sometimes wrote jointly 
 with Webster. As Webster in the preface to Vittoria 
 Corombona says, he was a long time in finishing the 
 tragedy, it may be regarded in some measure as a reply 
 to the Alchemist, and brought out about Christmas, 
 1611 ; and we thus obtain a very clear view of this con- 
 test. Jonson brings out in the summer of 1609 the 
 Silent Woman, Shakspere replies in Coriolanus in the 
 autumn : and Webster supports him, as a volunteer 
 early in 1610 with Appius and Virginia ; in which 
 tragedy Virginius would be Chapman; Numitorius: 
 Inigo Jones ; Minutius : Lyly ; Icilius : Shakspere ; 
 Appius Claudius : Marston ; and Marcus Claudius : 
 Jonson. The Alchemist and the Maid's Tragedy appear 
 in the summer, the Insatiable Countess in the autumn, 
 and whilst Webster is elaborating his masterpiece, the 
 Winter's Tale comes out in the spring of 1611. After 
 this long ramble we must now return to Shakspere. 
 
 In Julius C<Bsar, notwithstanding his close adhesion 
 to Plutarch, Shakspere must have had in his recollection 
 the sad fate of the Earl of Essex. This opinion is 
 justified by the circumstance, that in Macbeth, written 
 in the previous year, the earl's death is shadowed in the 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 105 
 
 Thane of Cawdor. Such being the case, Csesar would 
 be Essex ; Brutus and Cassius : Bacon and Coke ; 
 Antony : Anthony Bacon ; and Cicero : Cecil. But be 
 that as it may, the figures of certain dramatists shine 
 clear and distinct through these ancient Romans.' 
 
 In Julius Caesar we recognise the mighty Marston ; 
 Brutus and Cassius are S haksper e and Jonson, confirmed by 
 the imitation of their contention in the Maid's Tragedy ; 
 and Casca would be Decker ; and who does not see in 
 Octavius and Antony, Beaumont and Fletcher? and we 
 have previously shown, that in the False One Marston 
 and Fletcher appear as Caesar and Antony. 
 
 But it may be asked, how could Shakspere represent 
 himself in Brutus as guilty of ingratitude to Marston ? 
 for the very plain reason, that in Sophonisba, only a few 
 months previously, Marston had painted him as the 
 noble Massinissa, and the ghost of Asdrubal was the 
 earthquake, that shook Shakspere to his centre and 
 awoke Macbeth ; hence the ghost of Banquo, and hence 
 the ghost of Caesar in the tent of Brutus, where Shaks- 
 pere deserts his Plutarch, but with the highest artistic 
 skUl and psychological knowledge ; for the " horrible 
 and monstrous spectre " must have been in the o'er- 
 wrought mind of Brutus the shade of Caesar, calling 
 itself to his restless conscience his "evil genius;" and 
 such appears to have been Shakspere's meaning, since 
 Brutus, just before the appearance of the spectre, says, 
 " O mnrd'rous slumber ! La/st thou thy leaden mace 
 upon my boy, that plays thee music?" Was not the 
 mind of the gentle Brutus brooding on another mur- 
 d'rous slumber? and with his last breath he exclaims, 
 
 f2 
 
106 SilAKSFEllE AND JONSON. 
 
 " Csesar, now be still ; I kilFd not thee with half so 
 good a will." Thus does our poet in this drama as in 
 others by his Avonderful art and magic power weld all 
 things to his will. 
 
 The immediate incentive to Julius Caesar was the 
 publication of the Fox in February, 1607, with a dedi- 
 cation to the two Universities, which, considering the 
 circumstances under which the Fox was composed, must 
 be regarded as an insidious attack on the ignorant Shaks- 
 pere, who replied to the challenge by this noble drama. 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra was probably produced in the 
 following year; and it has been shown in the " Sonnets 
 re-arranged," that the principal characters correspond 
 with the characters in the Sonnets ; nor after a most 
 minute inspection can there be found in this play the 
 slightest trace of Jonson; neither Lepidus nor 
 Pompey can be tortured into a malignant Ben and still 
 less Caesar. This fact indicates, the author must have 
 had some other special object in view ; for in all the 
 other plays, in every one, since 1598, Jonson holds a 
 conspicuous position. 
 
 But in Coriolanus Jonson re-appears, and there can- 
 not be a doubt, we have here three Richmonds in the 
 field : — Coriolanus, Shakspere, and Balegh, all three in 
 one ; the characters may be thus arranged : — 
 
 Coriolanus. 
 
 Shakspere. 
 
 Ealegh. 
 
 Aufidius. 
 Titus Lartius. 
 
 Jonson. 
 Beaumont. 
 
 
 Essex. 
 
 rominius. 
 
 Fletcher. 
 
 L. Admiral Howard. 
 
 Menenius. 
 
 Lyly. 
 
 
 
 Sicinius. 
 
 Jonson. 
 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 107 
 
 In the opening of the play the inefficiency of the two 
 generals, and the brilliant deeds of Marcius in Corioli, 
 and in the field, remind us of Ralegh at Cadiz practically 
 superseding the two commanderSj rivalling in heroic 
 achievements Marcius Coriolanus, and well deserving a 
 similar addition to his name as knight of Cadiz. 
 
 The evidence that Shakspere had an eye on Ralegh 
 in the first act, rests entirely on the variations from 
 Plutarch, which apparently refer to the expeditions 
 against Cadiz and the Azores. According to Plutarch, 
 Marcius enters Corioli, not alone, but " with so small a 
 number, that summoning all his force he performed the 
 most incredible exploits, which afforded Lartius an oppor- 
 tunity to bring in the rest of the Romans unmolested j " 
 and Marcius on joining Cominius merely requested to 
 be opposed to the Antiates, " esteemed to be the war- 
 likest men." 
 
 The words of Lartius, " I'll lean upon one crutch, 
 'ere stay behind this business," may be an allusion to 
 Essex;* and the observation of Brutus, " O, if he had 
 borne the business" to Ralegh.t And again, " Re-enter 
 Marcius bleeding" may be an allusion to Ralegh going 
 in his skiff to Essex. And it is said, " Ralegh, to his 
 great honour, held always single in the head of all." 
 
 The account of Lartius in Corioli, "busied about 
 
 * " It appears that he had been impatient to be gone, for fear he 
 should be detained, for the Queen had persuaded him to stay lehind ; 
 but not prevailing, she now gave him liberty to depart." — Oldys., p. 238. 
 
 t " They presently possessed his lordship's head, that Ealegh had 
 taken this opportunity to play oyer his parts, and shew the world how 
 well he could act the conqueror, only to steal honour and reputation 
 from the generaL" 
 
108 SHAKSI'ERE AND J0N30N. 
 
 decrees, ransoming and threatening," refers to Essex 
 and the generals in Cadiz; and the following lines to 
 Ralegh's admirable conduct after the battle :* — 
 
 Mar. " Where is the enemy ? Are you lords o' the field ? 
 If not, why cease you till you are so ? " 
 
 We have in this play several remarks, trifles light as 
 air, but of singular significance on being brought to- 
 gether and examined in the lump ; — thus Aufidius says, 
 "Five times, Marcius, I have fought with thee;" and 
 again,t " Thou has beat me out twelve several times ;" 
 and Sicinius is addressed as, "Thou Triton of the min- 
 nows," and "hadst thou foxship ;" Menenius says, " We 
 call a nettle but a nettle," speaks of Coriolanus as his 
 son, and sajs, "thy general is my lover;" who in return 
 speaks of Menenius as loving him " above the measure 
 of a father : nay, godded me indeed ;" whilst the ser- 
 vants fear, lest this hero be cannibally given, and should 
 broil or roast their master. 
 
 From this analysis of Coriolanus, we are justified in 
 the belief, Shakspere has here given us another instance 
 
 * " He had desired the consent of the generals, that he might go and 
 secure or destroy the Indian fleet ; bnt they desired to consider on it till 
 next morning. At break of day Ealegh sent again, hut the generals sent 
 hack to desire he would come ashore into the town. — The next morning, 
 heing the 23rd of June, the Duke of Medina caused all that fleet of 
 merchantmen to he set on fire, because he was convinced, from their 
 being beset so vigilantly by Balegh, who had the charge of them, that 
 they must needs fall into his hands." — Oldys. 
 
 + JSvery Man in and out of his Humour, Cynthia's Revels, Poetaster, 
 and the Fox, — Twelfth Night, Menry V., Much ado about Nothing, As 
 you Like it, Timon, Othello, Troilus and Cressida, Measure for Measure, 
 Tempest, Lea/r, Macbeth, Julius Ccesar. 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 109 
 
 of his admiration and sympathy for the heroic prisoner 
 in the tower. 
 
 Furthermore, can any one have a doubt, that Shaks- 
 pere had Balegh in his mind's eye in the character of 
 Ventidius. — Antony and Cleopatra, Act iii., scene 1. 
 The remark of Ventidius about being the revenger of 
 M. Crassus' death, may refer to Ralegh at Cadiz attack- 
 ing the St. Philip, to revenge the destruction of the 
 Revenge. Caesar and Antony are evidently the Lord 
 Admiral and Essex; and the remarkable expression, 
 " when him we serve 's away," as well as the passage 
 about Sossius irresistibly force on us the conviction, that 
 Shakspere is alluding to Ralegh at Fayal. 
 
 As Ralegh was satirised in Eastward Hoe, and as 
 Coriolanus is a reply to the Silent Woman, it may be 
 reasonably conjectured, that Captain Otter is a cari- 
 cature of Sir Walter, especially when we consider how 
 distinctly he is pointed at in the White Devil. Besides 
 the Cadiz expedition and the Island voyage, are men- 
 tioned at the end of the first Act in the Silent Woman ; 
 and it may be added, Ralegh was born on the banks of 
 the Otter. 
 
 Considering the frequent and fierce disputes between 
 Shakspere and Jonson, it becomes highly improbable, 
 Jonson should have written either prologue, epilogue, or 
 the supposed interpolation in Cranmer^s speech in 
 Henry VHI. On comparing the last page of Cymbeline 
 with Cranmer's speech, the reader will perceive not only 
 similarity of expression but also of feeling. Nor should 
 it be forgotten there is not one word of personal adula- 
 tion to the king J for though Elizabeth is called a 
 
110 SHAKSPEHE AND JONSON. 
 
 Phoenix and a Sheba, James is not even called a 
 Solomon. 
 
 But who, it may be asked, is Cymbeline? and who is 
 Imogen ? 
 
 On reading this play, soon after the Winter's Tale, 
 the feeling continually haunted me, I was once again 
 wandering in fairy-land ; that, if not the whole, at least 
 much of it is allegory ; " Hark ! hark ! the lark at 
 heaven's gate sings," sends us at once back again to the 
 happy days of our youth, to the merry meetings at the 
 Mitre, to dear old Lyly and the fairies kissing Endy- 
 mion. But I could find no clue to the mystery, no 
 " open sesame," no Aladdin's lamp ; till on coming to 
 the end of the play, suddenly what in me was dark, 
 " the beams o' the sun " illumined : — Cymbeline is a 
 poet's free-will offering on the marriage of the Princess 
 Elizabeth with Frederick, Count Palatine, on Valen- 
 tine's day, 1613 : — 
 
 Sooth. " The fingers of the powers above do tune 
 The harmony of this peace. The vision 
 Which I made known to Lucius, ere the stroke 
 Of this yet scarce-cold battle, at this instant 
 Is fuJi accomplish'd : For the Roman eagle 
 From south to west on wing soaring aloft, 
 Lessen'd herself, and in the beams o' the sun 
 So vanish'd : which foreshadow'd our princely 
 
 eagle. 
 The imperial Csesar should again unite 
 His favour with the radiant Cymbeline, 
 Which shines here in the west." 
 
 Cym. Set we forward : Let 
 
 A Eoman and a British ensign wave 
 Friendly together ; so through Lud's town march ; 
 
SHAKSPEKE AND JONSON. Ill 
 
 And in the temple of great Jupiter 
 
 Our peace we'll ratify ; seal it with feasts." 
 
 The Roman eagle, vanishiug in the beams of the sun 
 shining in the west, would mean, in a common-sense 
 view, the annihilation of the Roman army, which has 
 just occurred; but the Soothsayer does not allow of 
 such an interpretation, we must therefore seek another 
 solution ; the Count Palatine, an elector of the German 
 empire, of the imperial Caesar, is the Roman eagle j he 
 was, like Posthumus, far below the Princess in rank, 
 and Queen Anne was very indignant at the match, and 
 afterwards vented her spleen by calling the Princess 
 "^ goody Palsgrave;" such conduct smacks a little of 
 Cymbeline's queen ; by this splendid alliance the Count 
 Palatine is absorbed into the royal family of England, 
 of the sun shining in the west. 
 
 Cymbeline is King James, and no doubt his Majesty 
 appropriated to himself : — " the radiant Cymbeline, 
 which shines here in the west;" but it is not probable 
 he applied to himself Cymbeline's tendency to favouritism 
 and peace at any price, consenting to pay tribute to the 
 Romans after having defeated them. 
 
 Cloten appears to be more a portrait than a satire on 
 Rochester, the king's minion, and he is also described, 
 like Carr, as a remarkably fine built man. And we are 
 of necessity compelled to believe, we see in Imogen, if 
 not the Princess Elizabeth herself, at least the language 
 and manners of a young lady of high rank in 1612. 
 
 Imogen is not only the Princess Elizabeth, the Pearl 
 of Britain, as the Germans called her, but she is also 
 the goddess of the romantic drama, Shaksnere's own 
 
112 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 muse ; aad on seeing her wondrous beauty, the classical 
 
 Roman^ Jachimo, exclaims : — 
 
 " All of her, that is out of door, most rich ! 
 If she be furnish'd with a mind so rare. 
 She is alone the Arabian bird." 
 
 The words of Posthumus to Jachimo are remarkable, 
 and deserve notice, since there are grounds for believing 
 Shatspere intended this play to be his farewell to the 
 stage, and his deliberate answer to the address, " To the 
 Reader," prefixed to the Alchemist in 1612, or Jonson's 
 criticism on the Winter's Tale ; — 
 
 Post. " Kneel not to me ; 
 
 The power that I have on j'ou, is to spare you. 
 The malice towards you to foi'give you : Live, 
 And deal with others better." 
 
 " On the 16th October, 1612, Ferdinand V, the Count 
 Palatine, arrived in England to receive his young bride. 
 In the midst of the festive preparations for this mar- 
 riage. Prince Henry was seized with a dangerous illness, 
 and, it seems, one morning his attendants thought him 
 dead, the prince, however, recovered from his faint, and 
 in the afternoon took two cordials or nostrums, one of 
 which was prepared and sent by the captive Ralegh, who 
 had devoted a great deal of his time to chemistry ; on 
 one occasion, when the Queen was very ill, she took his 
 draught, and experienced immediate relief." 
 
 It may then be presumed, in the good physician 
 Cornelius we see a delicate compliment to Ralegh, who 
 is, however, more strikingly depicted as Belarins, whom 
 Shakspere certainly intended for a good character;" 
 and " T stole these babes" is a shot fired at Sir Edward 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 113 
 
 Coke, who during Ralegh's trial, sought to fix upon him 
 " those words of destroying the king and his cubs." 
 Shakspere here again, as in the Tempest, stands up and 
 avouches the innocence of Sir Walter : — 
 
 Bel. " I, old Morgan, 
 
 Am that Belarius whom you sometime banisb'd : 
 Tour pleasure was my mere ofifence, my punishment 
 Itself, and all my treason ; that I suffer'd. 
 Was all the harm I did." — Act v., sc. 5. 
 
 Whilst Prince Charles is traceable in the gentle 
 
 Arviragus, Prince Henry is still more distinctly marked 
 
 in the bolder Guiderius. The Count Palatine deserved 
 
 the praises bestowed upon the noble Posthumus : — 
 
 " Liv'd in court, 
 [Which rare it is to do,] most prais'd, most lov'd ; 
 A sample to the youngest." 
 
 The long separation of Imogen from her husband, 
 with her wandering in boy's clothes and dying of poison, 
 corresponds remarkably with the postponement of the 
 nuptials of the Princess, during which period her brother 
 died ; so the song sung at the grave of Fidele is Prince 
 Henry's fairy knell : — 
 
 " Fear no more the heat o' the sun. 
 
 Nor the furious winter's rages ; 
 
 Thou thy worldly task hast done. 
 
 Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages :" 
 
 and yet it is written again and again, " neither on the 
 occasion of the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth, nor 
 when there was a 'voice of weeping heard and loud 
 lament,' on the death of Prince Henry, and when 
 almost every poetic voice was raised, Shakspere is not to 
 be found." 
 
114 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Although Lyly holds a prominent position both in 
 Coriolanus and the Winter's Tale, he is not to be found 
 in Cymbeline, but " hark ! the lark at heaven's gate 
 sings " sounds like a requiem o'er his tomb ; nor does 
 he appear in any play by Beaumont and Fletcher during 
 the twelve months following the Knight of Malta ; it 
 may then be surmised, Lyly died in the autumn of 
 1612. 
 
 As Cymbeline appears to have been a dramatic repre- 
 sentation of the royal family, and as in the Winter's 
 Tale Autolycus is certainly Jonson, so Florizel must be 
 Prince Henry ; and consequently Shakspere was, to the 
 great distress of Mr. Armitage Brown, " a servile flat- 
 terer," or as Dr. Johnson has it, " he knew his trade ;" 
 still it is singular, that with such a good sprag memory, 
 he should only have learnt his business at the eleventh 
 hour; probably his morals had been corrupted by the 
 example of that fulsome flatterer, malignant Ben, the 
 honestest fellow in all Bohemia; — but who, then, is 
 Perdita ? who stood prototype to that fair shepherdess ? 
 the very name suggests the hapless fair, the Lady 
 Arabella : — " Gentle and afiectionate, she delighted in 
 the refined pursuits of literature, in the elegant arts, 
 which give a zest to retirement, and in the society of a 
 few chosen friends, with whom she could indulge dreams 
 of romantic felicity." 
 
 In that allegorical age, the allusions in these two 
 romantic dramas, without being personal, would be 
 readily felt and understood ; — King James would approve 
 of Cymbeline and the good Polixenes ; Prince Henry, 
 in his eighteenth year, would sympathise with Florizel 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 115 
 
 and dream of a Perditaj Arabella would sympathise 
 with Perdita, and see in Florizel her faithful Seymour ; 
 whilst the Princess might recognise herself in Imogen, 
 weep over the grave of Fidele, and see in the noble 
 Posthumus her dearly- beloved Count Palatine ; — so far, 
 I believe, Shakspere was a flatterer; so far, he knew 
 his trade. 
 
 The critics have pointed out a passage in Cymbeline, 
 " the ruddock would with charitable bill — ," which 
 Webster is supposed to have imitated; Steevens has 
 also noticed some beautiful lines similar to, "Why, he 
 but sleeps;" the supposition, however, of such imita- 
 tions having been made by Webster is untenable, as the 
 White Devil was published in 1612 ; it must, then, be 
 granted, these imitations are by Shakspere, and conse- 
 quently, the whole death-scene of Fidele is a Shaksperian 
 imitation of the winding of Marcello. And further, it 
 should be noted, — not only the latter lines in Cymbeline, 
 but also the similar ones in Henry VIII. are imitated, 
 in each play, directly from Philaster : — 
 
 Bel. " These two fair Cedar-branches 
 
 The noblest of the mountain, where they grew, 
 Straitest and taUest." 
 
 " Till never-pleased Fortune shot up shrubs, 
 Base under-brambles, to divorce these branches ; 
 And for a while they did so." 
 
 Kinff."1hiit you may grow yourselves over all lands. 
 And live to see jour plenteous branches spring 
 VYhere-ever there is sun ! " — 
 
 Fhilaster, Act v. 
 
 " Tlie loftj' cedar, royal Cymbeline, 
 Personates thee : and thy lopped branches," — 
 
116 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 " Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine, 
 His honour, and the greatness of his name 
 Shall be, and make new nations : He shall flourish 
 And, like a mountain cedar, reach his branches 
 To all the plains about him." — 
 
 Renry VIII., Act v., scene 4. 
 
 There are also similar lines in King and no King, 
 Act ii., scene 2. 
 
 And who can Philario be, the mutual friend of 
 Jachimo (Jonson) and of Posthumus (Shakspere), but 
 Beaumont, a compound of Phil-aster and BeU-ario? 
 And why does Posthumus, in the last scene, strike the 
 page [striking her, she falls'], but because Philaster 
 wounds both Arethusa and Bellario ? And is not the 
 passage : — 
 
 Jack. " could this carl, 
 
 A very drudge of nature's, have subdued me. 
 In my profession," — 
 
 a reminiscence of — 
 
 PJiU. " The gods take part against me, could this Boor 
 Have held me thus else ? " — 
 
 Philaster, Act iv. 
 
 The passionate speech of Posthumus at the end 
 of the second act is a reminiscence of Albano's 
 speech at the end of Marston's Wliat you Will;* and 
 
 * Tlie good Albano is Shakspere ; Kandolph and Andrea, Albano's 
 brothers : Beaumont and Fletcher ; Lampatho Doria : Marston ; Quad- 
 ratus : Jonson ; SimpUoius Faber : Decker j the Schoolmaster may be 
 intended for Lyly j Jacomo and Laverdure ; two humourous satires on 
 Jonson and Shakspere. Lampatho Doria is acknowledged to be the 
 author himself, and Quadratus thus describes him : — 
 
 Quad. " I protest, believe him not ; I'll beg thee, Laverdure, 
 For a conceal'd idiot, if thou credit him ; 
 
SHAKSPEKE AND JONSON. 117 
 
 the sanguine stax on the neck of GuideriuSj and the 
 mole on Imogen's breast, must have been intimately 
 connected in Shakspere's mind with the mark on Al- 
 bano's breast : — 
 
 Alb. " I, good, good ; come hither, Celia. 
 
 Burst breast, rive heart a sunder ! Celia, 
 Why startest thou back ? Seest thou this, Celia ? 
 O me ! how often, with lascivious touch, thy lip 
 Hath kiss'd this mark? How oft this much- 
 
 wrong'd breast 
 Hath borne the gentle weight of thy soft cheek ? 
 del. O me, my dearest lord, — my sweet, sweet love ! " 
 What you Will, Act v., p. 294. 
 
 There is a stiU more apposite speech by Albano in 
 the third act, p. 256. The latter part of Posthumus' 
 speech is most likely a reminiscence of Mendoza's abuse 
 of women in the second scene of the Malcontent. 
 
 In this wonderful drama, filled with the warmth, 
 splendour, and glory of the westering sun, Shakspere's 
 farewell to the stage, a long farewell to all his glory, 
 what can these numerous imitations mean, so open and 
 undisguised, unless they are our poet's thanks, his 
 acknowledgment and acceptance of the incense offered 
 him by Beaumont, Fletcher, Marston, and "Webster. 
 
 He's a hyena, and with civet scent 
 
 Of perfum'd words, draws to make a prey 
 
 For laughter of thy credit." — Act ii., scene 1. 
 
 Consequently, Lampatho is the self-same character as Carlo Buffone in 
 Every Mem out of Ms Humour, and this fact gives a consistency to the 
 opinion, that the phrase, " thou grand Scourge," was not a mere allu- 
 sion, but was used intentionally by Jonson, to fix on Marston the satire 
 of Carlo Buffone, — " a public, scurrilous, and profane jester, that more 
 swift than Circe, with absurd similes, wiU transform any person into 
 deformity." 
 
118 SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 
 
 Throughout the play, the allegorical imagery is most 
 exact and singularly pleasing ; — Imogen, the romantic 
 muse, mistaking the body of Cloten for her lover's, and 
 with her own hands going to bury it, is a tribute of 
 respect to Marston * and not to Carr ; whilst her ready 
 
 • We hare seen that Marston and Essex are shadowed in Julius 
 Ceesar, that both were satirised in Alcibiades ; but whilst in the mag- 
 nificent extraragance of Timon, Shakspere may have had Essex in his 
 view, in the fierce denunciations to Alcibiades Marston stood before 
 him, or Antonio's Sevenge, — a portrait of Hamlet by Marston, as Phi- 
 laster was another by Beaumont ; Antonio and Timon, Mendoza and 
 Othello, ghost of Asdrubal and ghost of Banquo, these are the indis- 
 soluble bonds between Marston and Shakspere. It was the kindred 
 lightning-flash of Marston's genius, even more than the satauic sneer of 
 Jonson, that roused the slumbering energies of Jove, made him shake 
 his ambrosial locks, and hurl the fiery bolt. 
 
 We must not, however, forget the amusing comedy of the Fara- 
 siiaster, or Marston's parody on tlie Tempest; at least the characters 
 of Tiberio and Dulcimel are written, as Maginn might say, in direct 
 antagonism to Ferdinand and Miranda ; Dulcimel is also, like Miranda, 
 fifteen; and Granuffo and Gronzago remind us of Alonzo and GouzaJo. 
 Hercules, Duke of Eerrara : Shakspere ; Tiberio, his son : Beauniont i 
 Gonzago, Duke of TJrbin : Lyly ; Granufib : Chapman ; Don Zuccone, 
 a causelessly jealous lord : Jonson ; Sir Amoroso : Decker ; Herod 
 Frappatore : Marston ; Nymphadoro : Fletcher. 
 
 This comedy was probably written in 1605, immediately after the 
 Fox and named the Parasitaster after Mosca, the parasite ; but whilst 
 the one is a villain, Hercules is a noble character. The date is confirmed 
 by Dulcimel's remark, the picture of Hercules " speaks about forty,'' 
 and again by Zuccone's jealousy, " this four year — ever since the old 
 Duke Pietro," — evidently an allusion to the Malcontent. Gonzago is a 
 humourous satire on King James, and Herod's remark, "the duke is an 
 arrant doting ass," justifies the opinion, that iu Measure for Measure 
 Lucio is a portrait of Marston, the man himself, and the Duke a com- 
 plimentary portrait of James. 
 
 That an allegory is contained in the characters of the Princess Dulci- 
 mel and her attendant lady, Philocalia is incontestable — by the marriage 
 of Tiberio with Dulcimel Marston pays a flattering compliment to young 
 
SHAKSPERB AND JONSON. 119 
 
 acceptance of the Roman general's protectionj and his 
 beautiful address over the dead body, point to the 
 
 Beaumont as the son of Shatspere married to the coraio muse j whilst 
 in Hercules' admiration of Fhilocalia, love of the beautiful, Marston 
 has given us a noble, grand, and truthful picture of the Shabsperian 
 muse in 1605 : — 
 
 fler. " Philocalia ! What ! that renowned lady, whose ample 
 report hath struck wonder into remotest strangers ? and yet her worth 
 above that wonder? She, whose noble industries hath made her 
 breast rich in true glories and undying habilitiesp — she that whilst 
 other ladies spend the life of earth. Time, in reading their glass, their 
 jewels, and (the shame of poesie) lustful sonnets, gives her soul medi- 
 tations — those meditations wings that cleave the air, fan bright celes- 
 tial fires, whose true reflections makes her see herself and them ! she, 
 whose pity is ever above her envy, loving nothing less than insolent 
 prosperity, and pitying nothing more than virtue destitute of fortune. 
 Nym. There were a lady for Ferrara's duke ! &c. 
 Eer. I cannot tell — my thoughts grow husy." Act iii., p. 51. 
 Marston, ever since his co-partnership with Jonson in Sejanus, had 
 been in disgrace, but Shakspere now hastened to acknowledge this 
 beautiful compliment by restoring him to favour in the very first lines 
 of Lear : — 
 
 Kent. " I thought, the king had more affected the duke of Albany, 
 than Cornwall. 
 
 &lo. It did always seem so to us : but now, in the division of the 
 kingdom, it appears not which of the dukes he values most." 
 From this time forth Marston remained faithful to his chief, painting 
 him as the noble Massinissa, the good Albano, and as Count Eoberto : — 
 Isabella. " Here is a man of a most mild aspect. 
 
 Temperate, effeminate, and worthy love ; 
 One that with burning ardor hath pursued me. 
 A donative he hath of every god ; 
 Apollo gave him locks ; Jove his high front ; 
 The god of eloquence his flowing speech ; 
 The feminine deities strewed all their bounties 
 And beauty on his face ; that eye was Juno's ; 
 Those lips were hers that won the golden ball ; 
 That virgin-blush, Diana's. Here they meet, 
 As in a sacred synod." 
 
 Insatiate Countess, Act i., sc. 1. 
 
120 SHAKSPEU13 AND JONSON. 
 
 romantic Fletcher, Caesar's Antony, Marston's friend 
 and pupil; and when Imogen rejoices in the loss of 
 the crown on the discovery of her brothers, 'tis Shaks- 
 pere resigning the sceptre of poetry to Beaumont and 
 Fletcher : — " for the fate of these sons of Cymbeline no 
 source is known, it must have been Shakspere's own 
 ingenious invention." — Gervinus. For their enthrone- 
 ment, the two poets appear to have instantly returned 
 thanks in the Honest Man's Fortune; — Duke of Orleans: 
 Jonson; Earl of Amiens: Marston; Montague, the 
 Honest Man : Shakspere. The scenes in verse mostly 
 by Beaumont. 
 
 Sir Walter Ralegh was so affected by the death of 
 Prince Henry, that though he had, as he said, hewn out 
 the second and third parts of his History of the World, 
 he had not heart to finish them ; that Shakspere was 
 also deeply affected by this event, we cannot doubt ; and 
 it may with truth be said, in tlie grave of Prince Henry 
 lies buried the romantic drama, the musical soul of 
 Shakspere. 
 
 The Prince's death together with the marriage of the 
 Princess and her departure from the country may have 
 decided Shakspere on retiring thus suddenly altogether 
 from the stage. Considering the personal nature of 
 Cymbeline, and of Antony and Cleopatra, it becomes 
 probable Henry VIII. is also of a personal nature ; that 
 Shakspere was seized with a sudden impulse of publicly 
 acknowledging his gratitude to those who had so 
 honoured him, "Eliza and our James," and in the 
 character of Katharine paying a tribute of affection 
 and esteem to the faithful partner of his life ; whilst 
 
SHAKSPERE AND JONSON. 131 
 
 in Cranmer and Gardiner we have the hid sense of 
 Edgar and Edmund. 
 
 This feeling of gratitude and loyalty appears to have 
 been the immediate origin of Henry VIII.j Cranmer's 
 speech being the key to the drama^ the link that' unites 
 and gives a oneness to the whole : yet therein Shaks- 
 pere acknowledges himself also the subject of Beaumont 
 and Fletcher by the imitation of their freer and looser 
 versification, adopted partly out of compliment to his 
 friendsj but with his usual judgment, the scenes referring 
 to a period in the memory of persons still living. This 
 opinion is confirmed by the prologue being an imitation 
 of the prologue to the Woman-hater, from which the 
 first line is taken, and the last line from the Maid's 
 Tragedy : — 
 
 Amin " I am forc'd, 
 
 In answer of such, noble tears as those, 
 To weep upon my wedding day." 
 
 Act i., scene 1. 
 
 It has been poetically imagined, the Tempest was the 
 last of Shakspere's dramas, the mighty wizard addressing 
 us in the words of Prospero : — 
 
 " I'll break my staff, 
 Bury it certain fathoms in the earth. 
 And, deeper than did ever plummet sound, 
 rU drown my book ;" 
 
 but not being troubled with poetic fancies, and having 
 honestly, conscientiously, and with truth-seeking dis- 
 passion traced Shakspere through his dramatic career, I 
 rest satisfied and content with the pleasing belief, that, 
 
122 SHAKSFEKE AND JONSON. 
 
 though nearly thirty years are interposed, there is in the 
 poet's heart a connecting link between the vision of 
 Pericles and the vision of Kathariue ; between the dream 
 of the youthful poet, and the dream of the Christian 
 pilgrim. 
 
 «--cr^GKy<gifcS>'C)'S>'3-^ 
 
 F. PioKTOM, Printer. 89, Great Portland Street, Oxford Street, W.